Miles From Where You Are
by AnnikaMalfoy
Summary: Third part of Without You series. Please read Without You and Hurt Like This first. Aro decides he wants Bella. When the Cullens try to save her, they are faced with a decision that could tear them and Bella apart forever. What will they decide?
1. Aro's Decision and Alice's Vision

**ARO**

I sat in my room for a long time after Carlisle left. His story about his family's human gave me much to think about. There were so many possibilities to consider when I thought about how to deal with her. Most of them time we just killed any humans who happened to find out our secrets. Unless, of course, we could benefit from having them join our world. From everything Carlisle had showed me, though, it didn't seem like this girl was all that special.

I was very curious about the hold she had on the family, though. I could see from Carlisle's memories that they'd do anything and give up everything for her. I knew I could use that to my advantage if I could only get my hands on her. I could use her to get one or more of the things I've been coveting from them. The problem was getting her to me without any of them getting hurt.

"Jane," I said after a minute. "I have a mission for you, my dear."

"Yes, master." Jane replied stepping out of the corner that she was standing in.

"I want you to go to the Cullens and bring me their human." I stated. "Alive. In both senses of the word. If they happened to have changed her, kill them all. If they've managed to hide her, do what you have to do to find her. And if the fight you, then take her by force. Just try not to hurt the special ones too much."

"Yes, master." she replied. "And do you wish me to do this alone?"

"Of course not, my dear." I answered. "Take Alec, Felix, and Demitri with you. Are they going to be enough?"

"More than enough, master."

"Good." She turned to the door. "And Jane, wait a couple days before you go. I want to catch them by surprise."

"Of course." she responded with an incline of her head before opening the door.

"And, one more thing, would you please tell Marcus and Caius that I wish to speak with them?"

"Certainly." With that she walked out the door.

I leaned back in my chair once again pondering the possibilities. I knew I couldn't make an official decision on what to do with her until she was in my possession. Alice would see it and they'd just put up more of a fight. I didn't want that because I needed Edward, Alice, Jasper, and Roxanne to survive. They were the whole reason that I was going through all of this trouble. If I didn't want the four of them so badly, I'd just kill her and have it over with.

A few minutes later, my brothers stepped into the room.

"Aro, Jane said you wanted to speak with us." Caius stated as soon as the door closed.

"Yes, I just wanted to let you know that Jane, Alec, Demitri, and Felix will be bringing us a human guest in the next few days." I stated.

Both of their faces lit up like Christmas had come a few months early.

"Not that I'm not _excited_ but to what do we owe the pleasure of a human guest?" Caius questioned.

I smiled at the emphasis he put on excited.

"Carlisle came to see me about a problem a couple hours ago and I discovered that they have a human friend. A human friend who knows their secret." I explained.

"So why aren't we just going to kill her and get it over with?" Marcus asked.

"From what I saw in Carlisle's memories, young Edward is in love with this human. In fact, the entire family is quite taken with her. I don't understand why because from what I saw, she isn't anything special. But, for whatever reason, the family is willing to do anything and give everything for her. I'm hoping that holds true when we get her. That way, I can get what I want from them." I continued to explain. "I'm not sure of exactly what we're going to do when she gets here but I know both of you will more than happily help me make her feel welcome."

Caius chuckled darkly and Marcus smiled evilly. This was going to be more fun than I imagined.

**NARRATOR**

**A/N: This is just a little overview of the little things that happened after Bella reunited with the Cullens. Nothing that important just a few little tidbits that I can't work into Edward's part.**

Once Bella and Edward finished their reunion, Edward and Jacob insisted that Carlisle examined Bella. There wasn't much physical damage. The worst of it was the bruises on her face from him hitting. Even though, Bella insisted that Kyle hadn't raped her, both boys insisted that Carlisle give her an internal examine. Which came back perfectly okay. Bella didn't say "I told you so." because she knew that it gave everyone a little peace of mind.

Bella didn't talk about her ordeal that night. She did, however, insist on calling Angela's house. She was so relieved when Angela answered her phone that she completely broke down. Edward comforted her the best he could not knowing what was wrong.

The next day she told Edward everything. From the dreams right down to Kyle making her think that he had killed Angela. She cried a lot that morning but Edward comforted her and reassured her as best he could.

All in all, she wasn't with Kyle long enough to do any permenant damage. That was something that everyone was very thankful for.

**EDWARD **

**A/N: This picks up two days after the ending of Hurt Like This. Edward is trying not to think about the things that Bella told him. **

I laid on my bed listening to my Debussy C.D. trying to to think about the things Bella told me yesterday. I prayed that wherever Kyle was now, he was suffering. He deserved nothing less than eternal suffering for what he put Roxanne, Bella and the others through.

I was also reveling in the near silence that filled my head. Nobody, except Alice, was home. It was easier to ignore one person than several. I could tell that she was mentally debating something as she flipped through a fashion magazine but I didn't read too much into it.

Carlisle was asked to cover an extra shift at the hospital this afternoon. Emmett and Jasper had gone for a hunt while Rosalie went with Esme to pick up some food for Bella. Bella and Roxanne were at Bella's house (Charlie's old one) hanging out with Angela.

Bella had been desperate to see Angela. She was so relieved that Kyle feeding on her was just an illusion. She needed to see her though just to be sure. I understood that but I didn't want her to go anywhere alone. I knew that the threat was gone but there could be others out there. That's why Roxanne offered to go with her. I appreciated it because Bella would be protected and I wouldn't have to listen to girl talk.

Suddenly Alice's thoughts were right outside my door.

_"Edward, we need to talk. Can I come in?" _

"Sure." I stated.

Alice opened the door and stepped inside. I knew something was wrong immediately. I didn't think I had ever saw Alice so nervous in my time of knowing her. I pushed myself up on the bed and tried to get a read on her thoughts.

_"Sometimes I run. Sometimes I hide." _

I pulled out of her head immediately.

"If you're going to block me, can you do better than Brittney Spears?" I questioned.

She let out a nervous laugh and sat down on the couch. She pulled her legs to her chest and stared at me for a moment.

"I have something to tell you." she stated her voice shaking. "I know I should've mentioned it early, but with everything that's been happening over the past couple days, I just couldn't find the right time."

I nodded for her to continue. I felt a twinge of foreboding in my stomach but ignored it.

"I had a vision just before Jacob's told about Bella being kidnapped." she stated.

I gulped. I knew by the way she was approaching the subject that it wasn't going to be good.

"Show me." I stated.

She closed her eyes and pulled the memory of the vision forward. I watch as Demitri, Felix, Alec, and Jane dragged a slightly blurred Bella through an underground tunnel. I stared at Alice as the vision ended.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

"Aro has sent those four to come get Bella and take her back to him in Volterra." she answered.

"By why?" I asked. "If he's going to want her killed or changed why doesn't he just come here to do it?" I questioned.

"I don't know, Edward." she replied sadly. "I keep trying to see what he wants from her but he hasn't made an official decision yet. I think it's because he knows how the visions work."

"Okay, Bella was blurry." I stated. "Does that mean we still have time to save the situation?"

"I don't know. I know it means that something has not been decided in the kidnapping process. I just don't know what."

"How long do we have to figure it out?" I asked.

"Three days."

"Three days!" I yelled. "Why the hell didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"I'm sorry!" she replied. I imagined she'd have tears in her eyes if she could. "I had the vision just before Jacob told us about the kidnapping! So I didn't tell you then because I didn't want to add to the stress of trying to get her back from Kyle. And then I thought both of you needed time to recover form him before I gave you soemthing else to worry about!"

The things that she was saying made sense to me. I honestly didn't know why I was so mad at her anyway. She was only trying to make things easier on us. I just wished we had more time to prepare. It was the most stressful situation I've ever been in with Bella. I mean it wasn't so much that we didn't know how we would stop this from happening because we always found a way to help her. No matter what it took. The thing that bothered me the most was not knowing whiat Aro wanted her for. That was the thought that killed me the most.

It was an almost helpless situation. We were no match for the Volturi guard, especially those four. I wanted to be able to shield her from them but I didn't know how. It would've been a little easier if I knew what I was sending her into. I knew it wasn't going to be good but I didn't know how bad.

"I'm sorry." I told Alice. "I know you had good intentions keeping it from us. I'm just really scared. We might not be able to save her this time."

"I know, Edward." she said coming over to sit next to me on the bed. "I'm scared too. But we'll have a meeting when everyone gets home and figure out what we're going to do. We'll fight for her if we have to."

"I know." I replied sadly.

We sat there for awhile discussing the situation. It really did seem hopeless. We went over every battle plan that Jasper had ever showed us but nothing turned in our favor. I was starting to believe that this was going to be a fight we couldn't win.

**A/N: Well, there's the first chappy of part three. I want lots and lots of feedback. One review per hit would be great. However, I'll settle for half. Just kidding. But please review. **


	2. We Protect Family

**A/N: This chapter maybe a little overly emotional for some of the characters. I blame it on their current situation. **

**BELLA**

Edward and I were laying on his bed a few hours after Roxy and I got back from hanging out with Angela. I could tell somehting was wrong from the way he was holding me. It was like he thought someone was going to burst in and rip me away from him. After a half hour of wondering what was going on, I turned myself in his arms and looked at him.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"What makes you think there's something wrong?" he asked pushing hair out of my face.

"Just they way your holding me." I replied. "I feel like you think someone is going to try to steal me away from you."

"I can assure you, love, that there is nothing wrong." he answered.

I gave him my best don't-lie-to-me look and he sighed.

"Fine, there is something wrong." he stated. "But it isn't anything that the family can't handle. So please try no to worry about, okay?"

I nodded. I had a feeling that he was downplaying like he always did but knew I wasn't going to get anymore out of him. So instead of questioning him further, I snuggled myself further into his chest.

"So how was the day with Angela?" he asked in an effort to distract me.

I decided that it was best to just play along.

"It was nice. I realized, though, that I haven't really spent any time with her since Charlie's funeral." I stated feeling guilty about that. "I've been spending so much time with you guys and the pack that I forgot about my human friends. I feel like such a horrible person."

"Oh, honey, you are not a horrible person." Edward stated pulling me closer. "You lost your father four months ago. That's something that takes time to get over. I'm sure Angela understands. I'm also sure that she understands your relationship with us and the pack. She knows that we help keep you strong and that's what you needed in those four months. I'm sure she's just glad we helped you make it through everything."

I blushed and buried my head back in his chest. Everything he said was right, as usual. Angela probably did understand my need for space and time with my two families. Which is exactly why I think she didn't mention my four month absence. That was the thing I loved most about Angela. She understood a lot more about people than most teens her age. She knew what people needed when they needed it and didn't take offense when someone didn't need her.

"So, I'm curious, what did she say when you told her about you and I?" Edward asked.

"To tell you the truth, she wasn't all that surprised." I answered blushing a little more.

"What do you mean, she wasn't surprised."

"She said that she knew, once you came back, it was only a matter of time before I dumped Jacob for you."

He chuckled a little at that.

"She was always my favorite human at that school." he said. "So what did she say when she found out that it was Jacob who ended it?"

"Well, that was the part that shocked her."

He laughed some more then said,

"I was actually shocked myself."

"R-r-r-really?" I questioned trying, unsuccessfully, to stifle a yawn.

"Uh-oh, looks like it's naptime for the human." he stated.

"No, I'm fine." I protested.

"Bella, it's been a long week. I would feel better if you tried to get some rest."

He crawled off the bed and pulled the blankets back for me.

"Stupid overprotected vampire." I grumbled as I slid underneath them.

"I love you too." he whispered as he crawled back onto the bed.

I felt him stroke my hair as he bagan humming my lullabye. I was long gone in a matter of minutes.

**EDWARD**

I wasn't sure if I wanted Bella to find out about the Volturi, yet. I knew her finding out would be inevitable. I also knew it would have to be soon enough for her to prepare for it. Still though, she was just getting herself back together from Kyle, I didn't want to give her something else to worry about. Besides, I knew what her solution to the problem of not being able to fight them would be. She'd willingly turn herself over to them just so they wouldn't hurt us. I couldn't let her do that. Especially since she'd have no idea what she was walking into.

I was glad to be able to use the napping excuse to get out of letting her go to the family meeting. That way, I could talk to them and we could have something figured out before she had to find out what happened.

I laid next to her, stroking her hair for a long time after she fell asleep. I began contemplating the different ways we could save her. Somehow, though, none of them seemed right for Bella. She'd end up losing way too much in any scenerio. I wanted to get her out of this without losing anything at all. She had lost too much in this life already.

I found myself listening to my family's conversations and their thoughts as I laid next to my angel. Alice's were the only ones laced with worry. I knew she was having a very hard time sitting on this but we had to wait until Carlisle got back. He was probably the only one who would know what to do.

I waited another half hour before the front door opened and Carlisle greeted everyone in the living room. Wanting to get this conversation going, I kissed the top of Bella's head then headed quickly and quietly out of the room. I prayed she'd stay asleep until we finshed our chat.

"Where are Edward and Bella?" Carlsile asked just as I made it to the bottom of the stairs.

"Bella was a little tired so I made her take a nap." I stated.

I looked to Alice who had a knowing smile on her face.

_"So you wanna do it now when she can't hear?" _she thought.

I nodded. She turned her attention to Carlisle.

"Carlisle," she said. "Edward and I need a family meeting."

"Okay," Carlisle answered as everyone headed to the dining room. "But shouldn't we wait for Bella?"

"This is something that I don't want her to hear yet." I stated. He shout me a confused look. "You'll understand in a minute."

He nodded. Once we were all in our usual spots, Carlisle gave us the floor.

"I had a vision just before Kyle kidnapped Bella." Alice began. "I didn't say anything to anyone then because I wanted to get one crisis out of the way before we had to stress out about another one. But I'm afraid I can't wait any longer. Aro has sent Jane, Alec, Demetri and Felix to come get Bella and take her back to him in Volterra. I've been trying to find out what he wants with her but, because he knows how my visions work, he hasn't made an official decision on it, yet. I assume though, that it will be bad because it's Aro."

He explanation was met with shocked silence. My family's thoughts were screaming shock, fear, sadness, and anger. I squeezed my eyes shut trying to puush out all of their thoughts because it was getting too much for me. I looked to Jasper for a little help. I felt a wonderful calm spread over the room. The thoughts didn't go away but the weren't as loud.

"Thanks." I said to him. He simply nodded.

"How long?" Carlisle sighed.

"Less than seventy two hours. Closer to forty eight, I think." Alice answered.

"Damn it!" Carlisle yelled and hit the table. I don't think I've ever seen him upset like this. "That's not even enough time to change her!"

"I don't think that's a good idea anyway." Alice stated.

"Why not?" I questioned. I knew that I was the one who was adamant about her not being changed. However, if it was the only way to save her, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

"Because, if he wanted her changed, he wouldn't have her brought all the way to Volterra." she explained. "He'd probably just send someone to make sure that it got done. No, he wants something else from her. Besides, I have a horrible feeling that it would only make things worse if we did that."

"How could it make things worse?" I yelled. "It would save her from them!"

"I don't think it will." Alice stated.

I was about to respond but Carlisle held up his hand. I stopped at looked at him.

"I agree with Alice." he stated. "I don't think changing her would be a good idea."

"Why not?" I asked again. Why were they insisting that this wasn't the best way to handle the situation.

"First of all, because she wouldn't be completely done with the transformation by the time they got here." he answered. "That would leave her completely vulnerable to them if they got past us. And secondly, if she does make it all the way, it's possible that Aro will still want her after she's changed."

"But at least then she'd be able to defend herself better as a vampire." I denoted.

"But think about Edward, if we do it now and Aro takes her anyway, she'd only be a few hours old when she got there. She'd be a naive newborn with irrational emotions. Do you know how much damage they could do? He'd have her on his side within a week. Do you really want her to become one of them?"

I thought about it for a minute. The things he was telling me made a lot of sense. It seemed like something Aro would do just to get back at us. We take away his fun so he'd take her away from us. I couldn't live with myself if she turned into the kind of monster he was.

"No." I answered. "I really don't want that to happen."

"Okay, so changing her is out." Roxy stated. "Does anyone else have any other ideas?"

It was silent for a moment. I could hear everyone trying to come with something that could work. Emmett was the first to speak what was on his mind. Unfortuanately, it did nothing but express how he felt.

"We need to think of something because there no way in hell that I'm letting those fucking bastards get their hands on my baby sister." he nearly yelled.

"Shh!" I hissed. I really didn't need Bella waking up and hearing this.

"We could hide her." Rosalie suggested.

"No." I stated.

"Why not?" Rose questioned.

"Because I thought about it already." I stated. "When Aro wants something, he'll do everything in his power to get it. If we were to hide Bella, he'd just send the guard hunting for her. He'd make sure they did everything in their power to find her. He'd even go as far as hurting and killing her loved ones. Everyone from Renee and Phil, to the pack. Hell, he'd even go after Angela and her other human firends. Bella's already lost too much in this life, I won't let her lose anymore."

"So what do we do?" Esme questioned.

Jasper looked down at the table. I knew what he was thinking. I had known all along that it would come down to that. I just hoped that we had a chance.

"We fight." Jasper finally stated looking at everyone in the room. "We fight for that inoccent girl upstairs. We fight even if it means losing our lives. Because she doesn't deserve to lose hers."

"NO!" A choked cry came from behind me.

I turned around to see Bella standing in the living room. Her face was beat red and she had tears streaming down it. I cursed myself for being so involved in the fight that I forgot to pay attention to my senses. I really didn't want her to find out about all of this like this. I wanted to be able to talk to her about it one on one. I wanted to do what I could to make her see why we were doing this.

**BELLA**

I woke alone to Edward and Alice yelling. I wasn't sure what it was all about. I heard something about changing me. Edward wanted too but the others didn't. That was odd. It was always the other way around. Then Carlisle joined the fight and I heard him say, Aro's name and I knew it wasn't good. As quietly as I could, I slipped out of bed and down the stairs. I prayed they were too focused on their fight to notice their senses.

I sat on the bottom step, listening as the fight continued. They had now moved to arguing about whether or not to hide me. I found myself becoming angered at the fact that it was my life they were discussing and I wasn't a part of it.

Edward blew the idea of hiding me out of the water by reminding them of everything I had to lose. He said that he wasn't going to let me lose anymore. I felt a little of my anger disappear as he said this. Then Esme whispered,

"So what do we do?"

It was silent for a moment and then Jasper said the words I was dreading,

"We fight."

I couldn't let them do that. I heard stories of the Volturi from Edward. They were not people you wanted to mess with. I couldn't let my family fight them. I didn't want any of them to die because of me. I had to convince them not to do it.

"NO!" A managed to choke out as I made my presense known.

Edward whirled around. There were some many emotions on his face that I wasn't sure which one was most dominate. I saw fear, pain, sadness, anger, and regret. I found I couldn't be angry with him any more. He looked to tortured for that.

"Bella, sweetie," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to find out about it like this. I was hoping we'd have some kind of a plan before you found out."

"Well, seeing as it is my life, shouldn't I have a say in what happens?" I replied.

"No." he replied. "Because I know what your say will be. And I will not let you hand yourself over to those sick twisted bastards just to save us."

"But Edward, like you just said, I've already lost too many people I love, don't make me lose anymore." I pleaded.

"Bella, love." He came to me and scooped me into his arms. Then he took me back to his chair and sat me on his lap. "I know you don't want to lose us but you have no idea the kinds of horrible things they could do to you. I don't even want to imagine it. I can't let you willingly walk into their hands."

"But I can't let you guys risk your lives for me." I replied.

"Bella," Carlisle called from across the table. I looked over to him. "I want you to listen to me. I know this men. I've spent a few decades with them and I know what they're capable of. And I downright refuse to allow any of my children to walk willingly into the hands of those monsters. I will do everything in my power to prevent it. You're part of this family and we take care of our family. Especially the ones who can't take care of themselves yet. We are all willing to fight them and die to protect you."

"But-I-I-I..." I began but he cut me off.

"Every single one of us at this table would rather die than see you in the hands of those monsters. That's the price we're willing to pay. Please, just let us protect you."

I couldn't believe he was saying all of this. I was a little bit blown away by how much like a father he really sounded. I had never once doubted that they considered me family but now I knew it met no bounds. I stared into his pleading fearful and loving eyes for a minute before looking at the rest of my family. They all had varying degrees of the same emotions in their eyes. I looked to Edward last. His eyes held the most of every emotion.

I knew now that I couldn't deny them this. They loved me and wanted to protect me. I hated they it would mean their lives or mine but what could I do. They were never going to let it go until I agree to let them do it. I took a deep breath and turned back to Carlisle.

"Do what you have to do." I said in a choked whisper. "Just be careful."

Then I let the tears fall. Edward gently forced my head onto his chest and stroked my hair. It was silent for a bit while Edward comforted me the best he could.

"Should we tell Sam?" Edward asked after a few minutes.

"Yes." Carlisle answered. "I know they aren't going to like it but we gonna have to do everything in our power to convince him to ignore the Volturi. We will have to be harsh and lay it all out for them. They can not go after Jane, Alec, Demitri, and Alec, they'd all be killed. Not a single one of the four will show mercy. I'll cal him and arrange a meeting tomorrow."

They continued talking out plans for when the guard showed up. I wasn't really paying attention as I continued silently sobbing into Edward's chest. Eventually, the emotional exhaustion took over and I fell into an uneasy sleep.

**A/N: That's chapter two. Sorry for the length. It seemed important for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed. Please review. **


	3. Pleading with the Wolves

**A/N: I just have one thing to say before we get started on this one. I had a reviewer who was shocked by Carlisle's reaction to the Volturi coming after Bella. So I just want to remind everyone that the Volturi are going to be much worse in this story. **

**BELLA**

I woke up in Edward's bed. He was laying beside me, stroking my hair. I turned so I was facing him. The look in his eyes made me wish that I hadn't. He looked so sad and scared that it broke my heart. I couldn't think of anything to say so I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his neck. He wrapped his arms around me tigher than he normally would.

"It'll be okay." I told him after a minute. "It always is."

"It's different this time, Bella." he stated. I could hear the crack in his voice as he pulled away. "If Aro wants something, Aro gets it. It doesn't matter what the guard has to do. They'd willingly rip apart anyone who stood in their way. We may not even be able to stop them when they come. It's possible it could all be for nothing."

"Then don't get in their way." I stated looking down.

I had agreed to let them fight last night because I was face to face with their sadness and fear. I couldn't let them go through with it though. Not now that Edward was acting like he was going to lose me either way. I couldn't let them do it if they were going to die and I'd end up in Aro's hands anyone. There just wasn't a point in that much lost life. Especially since the lives of the ones I loved.

"You know we can't do that." he replied sadly.

"Yes, you can." I argued. "I've caused you guys nothing but trouble from day one. I almost destroyed the family by just moving here. I cause you pain just by being in the same room with you. The family risked their lives to save me from James. You felt you had to move away to keep me safe. I hurt you by making friend with the wolves while you were gone. And when you come back, I lose my father and have to live off of you. Not mention getting myself kidnapped by another sadistic vampire. To top it all off, the minute we think it's over, I've got another one coming after me. You guys have spent most of the last year and half risking your lives to protect me. Let me return the favor. Let me save you. This one is completely my fault anyway. I should've just let it all go like you tried telling me too."

Tears blurred my vision as I finished my speech. Everything bad thing that happened to them in the past year and a half was an indirect result of my coming to Forks. I blamed myself for all of it. Edward placed the blame on himself for not being strong enough to say no but I knew it was all my fault. Things would've perfect if I would've just stayed away from them like Jess had told me to. At least then, their lives wouldn't be burdened by me.

"Bella stop it." Edward stated so firmly that it scared me. "None of that is your fault and you know it. If it's anyone's fault it's mine. I should've known better than to get in this deep with a human. I knew it would only cause trouble but I did it anyway. And if I remember everything correctly, it was my decision that put you in immediate danger in everyone of those situations. I took you to the baseball game knowing those three were in town. I convinced the family to leave because it wasn't safe for us to be around you. And that drove you into the arms of the wolves. As far as the money goes, that's something that we want to do. Then with Kyle, I shouldn't have been stupid enough to leave you alone with Jacob. Especially knowing everything we knew about Kyle. You don't owe us anything Bella. Besides, tis one is completely our fault. We knew the rule about humans knowing the secret but we let you find out everything anyway. I made the mistake of revealing my abnormalities to you and allowed you to ask questions. And then I didn't even try to deny it when you figured everything out. This one is all my fault. Not yours. That's why we have to fight this fight because you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for us."

"No." I shook my head. "You would've never been put in that position if I hadn't have come to Forks. So it's my fault."

I pushed myself away from him and into a sitting position. There'd be no way he could argue with that one. My moving to Forks is what spun the Cullens life out of the wonderful control they had on it. If I hadn't have showed up, they wouldn't be contemplating ending their lives tomorrow.

"Look, Bella," he replied. "I don't care what you say, the family and I are taking full responsibility for this one. You made your decision to move here but we made our decision to pull you into our world. We could've walked away but we chose not to. Now, we have to deal with the consequences and protect you. Even if that means ending our own existences."

"But you just said that it's possible you all could die and they'd get me anyway." I stated. "I don't want to lose any of you. Especially if I'll just get taken anyway."

"I know, love. I know." He ran his fingers through my hair. "But this is something that you're just going to have to let us do. We're all one hundred percent in and there's nothing you or anyone can say or do that will stop it. Do you understand?"

I nodded. I knew there was no winning the arguement at that point. I'd just have to come up with my own way to save them. I knew enough about Alice's powers to avoid her finding out about my plan. I'd just make it up when she was too busy to pay attention.

"And don't you go getting any ideas." Edward stated ruining my plans. "Because we'll lock you in my bathroom if we have to."

I blushed slightly and looked down. He knew me too well.

"Just remember, whatever happens, I love you and always will." he said as he lifted my chin to his eye level.

"I love you too." I said as he brought his lips crashing onto mine.

It was even harder to keep myself in control this time. I had no idea how much more time we'd have to do this. He seemed to have the same idea because it was he who deepened the kiss. I wasn't sure how but I ended up laying back on the bed with him straddling me. The kiss never broke. Not being sure if I should push my luck or not, I just laid there and let him continue to kiss me. I kissed back, of course, with just as much passion. I didn't chance trying to take it further though.

He, however, had a different idea. I felt his hands slide down my sides to my shirt. He had it half off before he stopped.

"Perfect timing, Alice." he muttered into my lips finally breaking the kiss.

Sure enough, a second later, Alice waltzed into the room without even knocking.

"Sorry, guys, but we need to get going to meet the wolves." she stated. She didn't even pretend to be embarrassed about walking on her brother and sister in this position. "Besides," she added giving us both a meaningful look. "It wouldn't have ended well."

We both nodded as Edward climbed off of me and I got out of bed. Alice dragged me off to my room. I loved my sister to death but I hated that she had to dress me everyday. I wasn't five any more. I was a grown woman who was quite capable of picking out my own outfit.I tried telling her this on several occassions but she didn't seem to hear me.

Today, she pulled out a pair of tight black jeans with a white tank top and blue jacket. I rolled my eyes at her as I got dressed. I didn't know why I had to look fashionable to see the wolves. Honestly, all of them have seen me in my pj's at one point in the past couple months. Especially in the first month after Charlie died. I didn't even have the will to get dressed in the morning. Still, I found that life was much easier if I didn't try to argue with Alice about clothes. She'd always win anyway.

Once I had my clothes on, Alice ushered me downstairs for a quick breakfast. Even with everything that was going on, Esme still managed to make me eggs and bacon. I learned awhile ago to stop complaining about this. She liked doing it and wasn't going to stop. I had to live with that.

Fifteen minutes after I finished breakfast, I was on Edward's back and we were heading toward the clearing where we usually met the pack. I, of course, had my head buried in Edward's shoulder blade. We were there within minutes and I was being placed gently on my feet.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the pack in there usual formation. Sam was standing in the front with Jacob on his right while the other four were lined up behind them. They all looked quite nervous. Carlisle no doubt stressed the importance of today's meeting and told them to be on guard. I gulped as I wondered what they'd do when they found out about all of this.

"Sam," Carlisle greeted reaching out his hand. "It's nice to see that you and your brothers are well."

Sam simply nodded as he shook Carlisle's hand.

"Let's get right to business." Carlisle began after the formalities had been taken care of. "We will be having some visitors, of our kind, coming within the next forty eight hours."

"Friend of yours?" Sam questioned.

"Not exactly." Carlisle replied. "However, we must ask that you ignore them. Regardless of what they do or who the hunt."

Sam face turned an odd shade of red as his face twisted in anger. I bit my lip knowing this wasn't going to end well.

"And why the hell do you want us to do that?" he growled.

He was starting to tremble. I immediately looked to Jasper. He smiled and nodded knowing what was needed.

"Because they are the worst our kind has to offer." Carlisle stated as I watched Jasper work his magic on Sam. "If you try to stop them, they won't hesitate to kill you. Then they'd probably turn around and kill every member of your tribe just to spite you."

"Our job is to protect all humans, not just the tribe." Sam stated.

"I understand that." Carlisle responded. "But where would you and the tribe be if the entire pack was slaughtered."

"I think we can handle a couple of leeches." Jared stated.

"Not these ones." Edward growled out. "This isn't a joke. They will destroy you all in the worst possible way. Think about Emily and Alyssa and all the others you love. They are very sadistic. They won't just kill someone. They'll break them into tiny pieces and make them beg for death."

"Wait a minute." Jacob said. "Are these the ones that you said would potentially come for Bella?"

"Yes." Edward answered.

"So you're going to change her then" Jake tried to clarify. "Before they get here?"

"No." Carlisle answered because Edward couldn't find his voice. "We don't think that it is a wise move at this point."

"But didn't you say they'd kill her if you didn't?" Sam questioned becoming angry again.

"Yes but we think they want her for something else." Carlisle explained. "They've sent four of their guard to come and collect her. We don't know why."

"So you're just going to let them take her?" Jacob yelled as he started the phasing process.

"We wouldn't dream of it!" Emmett yelled offended.

"We plan on fighting them ourselves." Carlisle explained.

"Then you'll need all the help you can get." Sam stated.

"NO!" I yelled stepping out of Edward's embrace. "It's bad enough that they'll be fighting. I won't let you guys do it too. You have people here who need you. And I'm not gonna risk any of your lives."

"But Bella, if you life and safety is in danger you can't expect us to sit back and do nothing." Jacob fought.

"I can and you have to." I replied. "Sam, please, don't let them do this."

"Bella, I won't sit by and let something bad happen to you. I can't. You mean way too much to me." he stated.

"And you mean way too much to me to put your lives in danger for me." I pleaded. "You guys have families that you need to be around to take care of. Like Edward said, you have to think about people like Emily and Alyssa and your parents. They're the ones that need you now. Not me. So please, Sam, give the order. Tell them not to attack these vampires, no matter what. And tell them to stay away from the fight. I'm begging you."

The tears started halfway through my speech and continued coming. Edward wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him. He made shushing noises as he stroked my hair. The clearing was silent for a few minutes as I assumed Sam pondered the situation.

Then I heard it ringing through the clearing.

"I do not want any of you to interfere with any vampire fight the Cullens have within the next forty eight hours. In addition to that, you are not allowed to attack any unknown vampire for the next forty eight hours."

He was in alpha mode. There was no way any of them could not follow the order. I breathed a sigh of relief. I turned to thank him but couldn't find the words.

"Thank you." Edward stated for me. "You have no idea how much you've just done for her."

"Just do everything you can to keep her safe." Sam replied. "And if you do find that you need us, just call. And I'll reverse the order in a heartbeat."

"Thank you." Carlisle stated. "I hate to cut this short but we have some planning to do."

"Of course." Sam said. "Like I said we'll be in contact."

Sam turned to leave and motioned for the others to follow.

"Bella," Jacob called and I turned to him. He opened his mouth to say something then closed it again. He tried again but still nothing. Finally, he just followed the rest of the pack shaking his head.

I turned back to Edward and completely broke down again. I was so relieved about Sam's decision to not let them get involved. At the same time though, I realized that I just left my family with a huge handicap. They could've benefitted from the extra help. I knew, though, that they'd rather have the wolves safe than the extra help. Edward held me as I continued to cry.

I wasn't sure how long the family stood there as I cried. I could feel their need to say or do something but nobody knew what. Knowing they were there helped a lot. When I thought I was calm enough to leave, I looked up at Edward and he looked like he was in pain. I looked to the others to find out what was going on.

Alice had the glazed over look that could only mean she was having a vision. I tried to pull away from Edward to allow him some space but he pulled me right back into his chest. A second later, Alice and Edward exchanged a significant look.

"No." Edward growled. "I won't let him."

**A/N: I hope you liked this one. It was another of my letting my fingers fly across the keys chapters. I hope it wasn't too boring or mushy. Free cookies to anyone who can guys what Alice just saw. Also, I'm putting up a poll on my profile. I want your guys input on whether or not the Volturi powers should work on Bella. Let me know what you think. Please review. **


	4. What Does Aro Want?

**EDWARD**

I held Bella as she cried into my chest. I knew how torn she must've felt at that point. She was relieved that Sam had done what she asked but felt guilty about it as well. She knew that they'd be safe but that we'd just lost the best help we could possibly have gotten. I hoped she knew that we'd rather the stay alive and safe to continue taking care of their loved ones than have them risking their lives to save ours.

Our family stood beside us. I could hear all of them racking their brains for something comforting to say. Everyone was coming up blank. I hoped they knew that their presence was a great comfort to Bella.

Even as I comforted Bella, I was cursing myself. I knew that all of this was my fault. She would never believe it but it was true. Everything thing from James to what happened with Jacob, even Kyle. It was all my fault. I was willing to admit that. I should've just walked away like I kept telling her to do. It would've made her life in Forks so much easier. She certainly wouldn't be facing the Volturi right now if it wasn't for me. I had to figure out something.

Suddenly, the most heartbreaking image filled my thoughts.

_Bella was on the floor. He hands and feet were bond. Her face was dirty and she had deep scratches across her face. There were tears running down her cheeks. She looked so scared. Marcus and Caius were standing in one corner with disgusting smirks on their faces. Jane and Felix were standing guard at the door. Aro was circling Bella like a hawk circling its prey. _

_He was talking to her but I only caught three words, "My new pet." _

As the vision faded out, I realized Bella had pulled away from me. She was looking around at the family wondering what just happened. The family was looking at Alice. I turned to her with the same questioning look. She was staring at me too. I was scared by the look in her eyes. Alice was rarely ever sad or afraid but I knew she'd be crying at that moment if she could.

_"He's decided what he wants her for." _she thought to me.

"No." I growled pulling Bella back to me. "I won't let him."

"You won't let him do what?" Bella asked as she pulled away again.

"Don't worry about it, love." I said pulling her back to me. "It's nothing we can't handle."

_"What did she see?" _Carlisle thought. I simply shook my head in his direction.

Bella didn't need to know about that. I was going to do everything in my power to ensure that in didn't happen. When he didn't get a response from me, Carlisle turned his attention to Alice. Knowing I wouldn't want Bella to find out, Alice shook her hand and grabbed Jasper's hand. I could see the pain in his eyes. He, no doubt, felt the fear and sadness radiating of the two of us.

"Let's just go home." I said swinging Bella into my arms bridal style.

We arrived at the house within five minutes. I set Bella down on the floor with every intention of telling her to go upstairs. I needed to discuss this with the family out of her hearing range. She, however, had other plans.

"I want to know what Alice just saw." she stated before anyone could say anything.

"Like I told you, Bella." I said. "It's nothing we can't handle."

Somehow, I knew she wasn't going to fall for that excuse.

"And like I told you last night, it's my life, I think I have a right to know." she argued back.

She had tears of fury, sadness, and confusion in her eyes. I cursed her because she knew I couldn't say no to her. Especially not when she looked that upset. I sighed and looked to Alice. Her eyes were still sad and fearful as well. She nodded.

_"She's right." _Alice thought. _"She had a right to know what could potentially be happening to her. Besides, she's gonna find out sooner or later. Better that it's now and not then, if the vision comes true." _

I nodded. The rest of the family had already taken seats in the living room. They were all just as curious about Alice's vision as Bella was. I sat on the couch and pulled my angel onto my lap. I didn't know how I was going to tell her this.

"Aro has made a decision about what he wants from you." I said looking her in the eye. She nodded. "He wants to make you his pet."

I was disgusted as I let the words fall out of my mouth. My families thoughts clicked into overdrive then. I suddenly got imagine after imagine of all the horrible things they could do to my sweet innocent Bella.

"Guys, I really don't wanna think about it." I stated. The thoughts didn't stop but they quieted a little.

"And what does that mean?" Bella asked. I could see the fear in her eyes.

"We aren't sure." I explained. "Knowing Aro and the things that he's capable of, it's not good."

Bella nodded. I thought she was too shocked to form any kind of response.

"So does this change our plan?" Roxy questioned.

"I think we should reconsider changing her." Rosalie stated.

"No." Alice stated. "If Aro wants her for a toy, I imagine he'd take her whether or not she was human."

"But wouldn't it be easier for her if she were a vampire?" Rose asked.

"No because if she were a vampire, there'd be no limits on the torture he could put her through." Alice explained. "He wouldn't have to hold back because injuries would all heal in a matter of hours. As a human, he'd have to make sure he didn't hurt her too much too fast. It would take days maybe even weeks for her to heal from his attacks. If we were to change her, we'd be doing him a favor."

Rosalie let the arguement go. Her thoughts were telling me that she understood where Alice was coming from. However, she still felt it was our best option.

"What about revisiting the idea of hiding her?" Esme suggested.

"No." I stated. "He'd still stop at nothing to find her. I won't let Renee and Phil and the other people Bella loves to die because of us. They didn't do anything wrong. I won't let them be punished for our mistake."

Everyone seemed to agree with me on that one.

"So, the best option is still to fight." Emmett stated.

"Yes." I agreed. "It would be the option with the least casualities."

"There is one other option." Bella stated pulling away from my chest.

She had the determined look in her eye. I knew what she wanted me to do but I refused to allow it.

"No." I growled trying to be as firm as possible. "We talked about that last night and this morning. I will not allow you to hand yourself over to them. You're just gonna have to face the fact that you have a family who is willing to fight and die for you. Reitirating what I said early, if I have to go as far as locking you in my bathroom, I will. But you are under no circumstances going to sacrifice yourself for this family. That is not happening. So just leave it."

I could see the hurt in her eyes at that forcefulness of my words. It broke my heart. Yet, I knew this was for her own good. I wasn't going to send her off to those disgusting excuses for men and vampires. The family wasn't going to have it either. We were going to do what we could for her.

She glared at me for the longest time. A few tears fell but she wiped them away.

"Fine." she stated defeated.

"I'm sorry." I told her as I pulled her close. "I know it's going to be hard but it's for your own good. I love you and don't want anything to happen to you."

"I don't want anything to happen to you either."

"I know."

The family sat in another silence as Bella cried into my chest some more. I comforted her the best I could. I also tried to block out the thoughts of my family. That was until Esme voiced what everyone was thinking.

"Why her?" she said. "There are plenty of humans in Volterra and all over the world that would deserve nothing better than being his plaything. Why does he have to come after this innocent little girl. What did she do to deserve something like that?"

She looked to Alice. She probably thought Alice had seen some kind of reasoning behind it.

"I don't know." Alice stated looking at her hands. "I'm sorry."

Jasper put his arm around her and she leaned into his shoulder. I could hear everyone trying to come up with an answer to Esme's question but they came up with nothing. I had a feeling that Carlisle had figured out more than he was letting on. I kept it to myself, though because I didn't want to make the tension over this any worse.

"Alice," Jasper stated after a minute. "Do you think you could get a read on how they're going to approach the situation? And pinpoint a better time range for us?"

"I can try." Alice answered. She pulled herself away from Jasper and closed her eyes.

_Jane, Alec, Demetri, and Felix were standing across from the family in our backyard. Jane and Carlisle were having an amicable conversation. _

Alice opened her eyes as the vision faded.

"They will approach us head on." I answered before anyone could ask. "And ask us to simply hand her over."

"Okay, that means, we will be prepared to meet them, together, as a family." Jasper stated. "Now, where are we going to put Bella while were doing this?"

"In my room." I stated.

"No." Bella said. "I wanna be outside with you guys. I wanna be able to see what's going on."

"Over my pile of ashes!" I nearly yelled. "I will not have you that close to the fight. I won't make it that easier for them to get their hands on you."

"Please, Edward." she begged. "I need to be able to make sure you're all okay as the fight progresses."

Once again, she had the look in her eyes that I couldn't say no to.

"Fine." I said. "You'll be in the living room but no closer. And I don't want you in view of the window. Also, if you go outside before the fight's over, one of us, will drag you back in and lock you in the bathroom."

"I can deal with that." she stated. "As long as I can keep tabs on all of you."

I nodded and she laid back against my chest.

"So, once we refuse to hand her over, we'll have to be ready immediately." Jasper contuinued. "Our first priorities will be Alec and Jane. They could cause the most trouble in the distraction department. Then we go after Demetri who will be a problem if we live and have to run. Felix isn't that much of a threat so we'll take him last."

I continued listening to Jasper go over the battle plan as I felt Bella's tears soaking through my shirt. I stroked her hair and made shushing noises, trying my best to comfort her. I wanted to tell her that it would be okay but I couldn't bring myself to lie to her. It was a major possibility that we could all die and she'd still end up as his toy. I shuddered to think about that.

As I continued stroking her hair, I found myself praying for the first time since my transformation. I prayed everything would go well and we'd all live. Mostly though, I prayed that the beautiful angel in my arms would come out of everything unscathed. She didn't deserve anymore pain. Only could only pray that God felt the same way.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this one. The next chapter is the fight. I know you're thinking that this one is going pretty fast but we're just getting started, I promise. Please vote on the poll. This is the problem, I want Jane's power to work on her because it's an excellent form of torture but I'm not sure about Aro's. I suppose he could get use the bad memories to hurt her but I don't know. Let me know what you think. And please review this chapter. I live for your feedback. **


	5. Choices

**EDWARD**

Bella eventually cried herself to sleep in my arms. Once Jasper had finished running through the battle plan, I carried her up to my room and laid her in the bed. I curled myself next to her and stroked her hair. I wasn't sure how much time I had left with her so I planned on spending every minute of the next forty eight hours by her side. I wouldn't leave her unless I had no other choice.

I knew a hunt would be necessary in the next few hours. We needed all the strength we could get to fight the guard. I decided to go sometime while she was still asleep. I didn't want to take away from any of her waking hours.

_"Edward, can I come in?" _Alice's thoughts floated in about an hour after I brought Bella up.

"Sure." I replied.

She opened the door and stepped in. She looked like all the life had been drained out of her. Granted, that was something that came along with our existence but this was bad even for our kind. Alice had always been the one who was the most okay with what we were. I mean she wasn't perfectly happy about it. None of us would be. She just adapted so much better than the rest of us. I don't even think she ever regretted having to leave her human self behind.

I supposed that had something to do with the fact that she couldn't remember much of what she left behind. Still, she always seemed to have the best outlook on our existence and was always so optimistic. Once again, that's probably the whole future seeing thing. She always knew when things were going to work out or not. I supposed that helped her a lot.

The point, though, is you rarely ever saw her without a bounce in her step and a smile on her face. To see her walk into a room looking like someone was on their deathbed was a very scary and sad thing for me to see. She looked like she didn't have any fight in her. I had a feeling she felt the situation was hopeless. I wanted to say something comforting but had no idea what.

She walked over and sat on the couch, pulling her knees into her chest and resting her chin on her knees. She started at my sleeping angel for the longest time before she spoke.

"Carlisle, Em, and Jazz are going to go for their hunt in about an hour." she told me. I could her the sadness in her voice. Once again, it was something you'd expect from Alice. "They said you could go with them and I'd sit with Bella. Or you can wait and come with Rose, Esme, Roxy, and myself while Jazz stayed with her."

I stared at Bella for a few moments.

"Do you know when she'll wake up?" I asked.

"Not for another seven or eight hours." Alice answered.

"Then I'll go with the guys just in case you guys aren't back before she wakes."

Alice simply nodded. I expected her to go back to Jasper right away but she continued to sit there and watch Bella. She was wishing there was something she could do to keep things from happening the way she saw them. She really felt like she was missing an important piece of the puzzle but she couldn't quite grasp what it is. I couldn't either. We just sat there in silence for awhile as I listened to her thoughts. She was trying desperately to make a connection but it just wasn't coming together.

"It's okay, Alice." I said after awhile. "I really don't think he's doing it for anything other than his own sick pleasure. Besides, the important thing is to keep it from happening and stop worrying about the why."

"I suppose you're right." she sighed. _"It just doesn't make sense. Why her?" _

"Who knows?" I answered. "He's probably trying to protect his image. By taking Bella, it looks like he's just doing his job in keeping the humans from finding out."

"That does make sense."

We lasped back into silence. Her thoughts now turned to the fight that was coming up. She was scared for all of us but mostly for Bella. I'm sure that's how everyone in the house felt. We could all take care of ourselves and everyone in the house knew that. Bella, however, was only a human and couldn't hold her own. We had to do it for her. Soemthing we were all prepared to do. Even if it meant our death.

"Can you tell the outcome of the fight?" I asked after a minute.

"I haven't seen anything definite, yet." she answered. "A few decisions still need to be made."

"Who's?" I questioned.

"I'm not sure but I think they might be Bella's. I could be wrong though."

"So you mean, she is going to decide whether or not she falls into his hands."

Alice shook her hand sadly. I imagined tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I've gotten a glimpse of two possible outcomes. Someone, Bella, I assume keeps changing their mind. Either way, Aro is going to get what he wants."

"No. I won't let that happen. I will fight until there is no part of me left to fight."

"I know and so will the rest of the family. However, if we fight until there's nothing left, then they'll be no one to protect Bella once the guard's finished with us. Which means that they'll get her anyway."

"It doesn't have to be that way."

"You're right, it doesn't. But you won't like the other possibility."

"Why, what is it?"

Alice just shook her head. _"Edward, we aren't going to be to protect her from this. As much as we all want to. Her want to protect us will most likely win out in the end. She'll end up doing what she's been asking to do since the beginning. We might not be able to stop it from happening." _

"No! I refuse to allow that to happen!" I growled as quietly as I could

"In the end, it's up to her, Edward." she stated. "You know how she is. If it's something that she wants to do, she's going to do it."

"But I can't let her. I have to try to protect her."

"I know and we will. Nothing is set in stone. We could still win which is why we will fight but there's a possibility, Bella will have to make the decision that will save or destroy us. And only she can decide which one is right."

Before I could respond, there was a knock on the door and Jasper poked his head in.

"Edward, we're going to leave a bit earlier than expected. We want to be absolutely positive we're all together when they get here." he said.

"Okay." I replied.

_"Don't tell them about this." _Alice thought. _"They're scared enough as it is." _

I nodded. Once I kissed Bella on the forehead, I headed downstairs to join the boys for our hunt.

**SEVEN HOURS LATER.... **

**BELLA**

When I woke up, I was staring into Edward's sad eyes. With everything I've gone through in the past year and a half, I've never once regretted not walking away from Edward and the Cullens once I found out what they were. Not even when James almost killed me or when they left me. I was glad I had them in my life and I loved them all very much. However, in that moment, looking into Edward's eyes, I wanted nothing more than to be in Jacksonville with Renee and Phil, completely oblivious to the existence of vampires.

At least then, Edward wouldn't have the defeated,hopeless look in his eyes. I knew by looking in his eyes, he was way more than just scared for me. I felt like he knew there was no way around me ending up in Aro's hands. I had never seen him look like that before. Not even when James was after me. He always had a solution for everything but it didn't look like he had any way out of this one.

To tell thr truth, I really didn't care that there was no hope for me. This whole thing was my fault anyway. I should've walked away when I had the chance. No, I was worried that there wasn't any hope for the family to survive. It was my decisions that brought us to this point. I decided to keep pressing Edward about what happened with the van. I chose to ask Jacob about the legends. I chose to confront Edward about it all. And I chose to stay right where I was when he finally confirmed everything. If I would've just dropped it, they wouldn't be facing possible excution in the next day or so.

I wished I could get Edward to see it that way but he never would. He was convinced that everything was his fault. He put it all on himslef simply because he couoldn't let me die that day.

"Good morning." Edward said bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Good morning." I replied.

"Did you sleep okay?" he asked. I nodded. "Good."

He pulled me closer to him and I snuggled into his chest. I wished time could've just stopped right there. I would be so content to just lie there forever with him. I didn't want to have to worry about him risking his life to keep me safe. He wouldn't even have to worry about keeping me safe. We could just be together and not have to worry about anything.

"I love you." he whispered.

"I love you too." I replied into his chest.

"There's something we need to talk about." he said slowly.

I pulled away from him and into a sitting position.

"What's up?" I stated.

"I haven't really been fair to you in this situation." he stated. "I haven't given you any options. I've just told you how it's going to be. I didn't stop to think about how what we were about to do would effect you."

I nodded. I wasn't quite sure where he was going with that. I liked that he was acknowledging my feelings on the subject. I knew though, that he'd never give me what I wanted so I may as well not hope for that. Still, it was nice that someone was actually taking my feelings into account.

"I want you to know, though, that as your family, we are doing what we think is right for you." he continued. "And I may not like it but when all is said and done, as a part of our family, you have to do what you think is right for us as well. Though, I don't condone the idea and I hope it doesn't have to happen, I know you're going to do what you want, regardless of what I say. So, in the end, you have to do what you think is right? And if that happens to be making the sacrifice, then I won't stop you. So long as it's your decision. But I want your promise to at least let us try before you do anything. I don't want you to be hurt if there's still the possibility that we can save you."

I stared at him in total shock. I wasn't sure if this was really my Edward talking to me. Mister overprotective vampire who wouldn't let me go anywhere alone anymore. He was actually giving me permission to put myself in harm's way if we didn't have any other options. I didn't quite believe this. Edward would never.

"And what brought this on?" I asked.

"Alice and I had a little talk while you were asleep." he answered.

"A talk about what?" I pressed.

"That's between her and I."

"Fine."

"So are you going to promise me or what?"

"I promise that I will not throw myself into the belly of the beast unless you guys are in serious trouble." I stated.

He nodded sadly.

"Thank you for understanding my need to do it." I told him.

"I just hope you won't have to." he replied wrapping his arms around me.

"EDWARD, BELLA, CARLISLE, ESME, ROXY, JASPER, EMMETT!" Alice voice rang through the house. "GET DOWN HERE NOW!!!!!!"

Edward picked me up and took off down the stairs. Alice was sitting in a chair with a hand over her heart. She was trying to unecssarily catch her breath. The others were there only half a second after us. Everyone was looking at Alice. Their eyes held nothing but apprehension and fear.

"Jane decided to steal a car this morning." Alice stated. "She feels it's a bit faster than running. They'll be here by the end of the day."

**A/N: I lied and I'm sorry. This is obviously not the fight scene. I had no idea what I was going to write when I sat down today. This is what my fingers typed out. Don't worry! The fight scene will definitely be here tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed the setup for the fight scene though. A few things I have to cover first, I'm not sure if Alice can tell who has to make what decision for her visions to come true. However, I feel that some visions would just be obvious with who has to decide what. Also, I know giving Bella permission to sacrifice herself is very out of character for Edward. Think about it like this though, if they were dead then Bella would be stuck with that fate forever. However, if Bella handed herself over and everyone lived, then they could figure out a plan to save her later. That's Edward's logic. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one. Please review. Also, I'm going to take down the poll because with the help of the few votes, I've gotten, I've decided that I'm not going to let the Volturi powers work on Bella. But I will be replacing it with another poll for tomorrow's chapter. I want to know if you guys think any of the Cullens or Volturi should die in the next chapter. **


	6. Sacrifice

**A/N: Okay this is the fight scene. I've only gotten two votes on my poll and both were for different people. So, which one did I choose? Well, you'll just have to read and find out, won't you. **

**EDWARD**

"What?!" I excalimed pulling Bella closer to my body. I hadn't put her back on her own feet yet. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Alice answered. "It's as clear as my vision about Aro yesterday."

"Damn it!" Emmett's voice carried through the whole house.

"Can you nail down a better time for us?" Carlisle asked Alice.

"I'm sorry." Alice shook her head. "It all depends on traffic and that's way too many decisions to nail down a specific time."

"That's okay Alice."Carlisle replied. "We'll just have to wait for them."

Everyone nodded their agreement.

"But doesn't this mean they will no longer approach us from the back?" Roxy questioned. "I mean I know they'll know we'll hear the car pull up. There's no element of surprise in that."

"She's got a point." Rose stated.

By now I had carried Bella to the couch and sat down with her in my lap. She had her head in my chest and I could feel her shaking. I tried to calm her the best I could.

"Right." Carlisle answered. "This means that we'll probably have to invite them in."

"No." I growled. "That'll give them easier access to Bella during the fight. I want her as far away from them as possible."

"I know, Edward." he said. "But we have to adapt to their new plan. I'm sorry. We can put her in your room like we orginally planned."

"No." Bella stated. "I want to be down here when the come."

"Bella, you promised you wouldn't do it unless you didn't have a choice." I reminded her.

"And I intend to keep that promise." Bella stated. "But if they're going to get to me either way, I need to show them that I'm not afraid. I have to show them that I will never run and hide from them. It could possibly be the only way for me to survive. And yes, I may be afraid. Hell, I'm terrified but I can't let them see that. It means they've won and I won't let them win. Not this early in the game. So Edward, don't make me hide."

I sighed. Her words made a lot of sense to me. As badly as I didn't want her directly in harm's way. I knew that hiding her would only show how afraid she and the rest of us were. It may not help much in the moment but it would make them think twice before the tried anything. I nodded my head.

"But, you are to stay behind me until the fighting starts. Once that happens, then you have to cover yourself." I told her. She nodded then laid her head back on my chest.

"So, what are we going to do until they get here?" Emmett questioned.

"Try to relax and stay calm." Carlisle said. "Esme, why don't you fix Bella something to eat? This stress isn't good for her, especially on an empty stomach. _Besides, who knows when her next meal will be?" _he added in his thoughts.

I was pretty sure that Bella knew that was what he didn't want to say. However, she didn't even decline the offer of food.

An hour later, Bella was eating a bowl of chicken noodle soup. She didn't even put up a fuss about it either. Under normal circumstances, she would've spent at least a half hour telling Esme that it wasn't necessary for her to spend so much time and energy on the cooking.

I spent the rest of the day with my arms around Bella. I cursed myself to the deepest pits of hell every time I had to look into her sad and fearful eyes. None of the family seemed to be able to find their voices. Everyone of their thoughts were swimming with every possible outcome of today's fight. I cringed when none of them ended with everyone living and Bella being safe with us.

Why the hell did I have to bring her into this world? I should've just kept running after that first day. At least then the entire family would be safe and Aro wouldn't have any knowledge of Bella. Granted, I'd probably be still be miserable but at least the ones I loved would be safe.

It was around seven o'clock that evening when we finally heard tires on the drive. As their thoughts came into range, I had to remind myself to stay calm. We didn't want things to get out of hand too soon. I hoped that Carlisle could talk them into allowing us to escort Bella to Volterra and we could work something out from there. Somehow, I knew it wasn't going to be that easy. I felt Jasper's power spread across the room as the thoughts of each member of my family got darker. I pulled a now extremely tense Bella closer to my side.

After what seemed like forever, we distinctly heard four doors close and footsteps coming up the front steps. I tried to bite back my anger as visions of Bella, similiar to the one that Alice had yesterday were dancing through my head. I wasn't sure where they were coming from though. There were just too many thoughts screaming at me that I couldn't distinguish the voices. To be honest, I didn't really care either. I just wanted to do everything in my power to keep that from happening to my sweet and beautiful angel. She let out a small whimper when Jane knocked on the door.

Carlisle answered it with Esme right beside him.

"Jane, it's wonderful to see you." Carlisle said in an almost believable cheerful manner. "And you brought Alec, Demetri, and Felix. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Perhaps we should talk about it inside." Jane suggested in her falsely kind voice. "You may need to sit down."

I supressed a snort. Like she'd care how we would react to this. Bella's breath hitched just slightly as we heard Carlisle agree. I ran my fingers through her hair and pulled her a little closer. Her heart sped up to a nearly alarming rate when Carlisle stepped back into the living room with Jane, Demetri, Felix, and Alec.

"Look, children." Carlisle said still maintaining the falsely polite voice. "We have company."

There were several murmurs of hello from around the room. No one other than Carlisle seemed up to pretending to be polite. After all, we all knew what they really wanted.

"Please sit." Esme stated attempting the same tone but failing miserably.

I didn't realize the space beside Bella was empty until Jane started thinking about sitting next to her. Alice must have seen what she wanted because she stood quickly and said,

"Jane, why don't you sit here. It's the most comfortable chair in the house."

She, too, had tried to adpot the same polite tone as Carlisle but couldn't make it sound believeable. Jane looked at her for a long time. I thought for one wild moment that she was going to use her power on Alice. She, however, ended up simply taking the seat that Alice offered. Alice slid onto the couch beside Bella. I shot her a grateful look.

_"We're going to keep her safe for as long as possible." _she thought. I nodded.

In the time of Alice's and Jane's exchange, Jasper had moved out of the other armchair to let Demetri sit. Jasper then placed himself on the floor in front of Bella. I smiled to myself. Emmett and Rosalie had moved from the loveseat to allow Felix and Alec some room to sit. My brother and sister now stood behind the couch. Emmett had his arms around Rosalie. Carlisle had taken the seat next to me and Esme sat on the arm next to him. Roxy was sitting on the back of the couch just above Bella's head.

I smiled. They were purposefully surrounding Bella to keep her defenses up for as long as possible. We hadn't even talked about doing it this way. They all just seemed to know that it was the best thing to do.

"We've come to discuss the future of your human." Jane stated without preamble.

"Her name is Bella." I growled. Jane smiled.

"Of course." she said. "Aro would like us to take Bella back to Volterra with us."

"Can I ask why?" Carlisle questioned.

"Well, as you know, the rules have been broken and she knows our secret." Jane stated. "She's an exposure risk."

"As I have explained to Aro, I don't believe she is that much of a risk." Carlise replied.

"Aro feels different and it's Aro's opinion that matters, not yours, Carlisle."

"I understand that, Jane. However, I will not hand one of my daughters over to you until I know exactly why she is being taken."

"Aro did not give us deatails, he simply requested that we bring her to him so that she may be dealt with."

"Then we request that we be allowed to come with you and present a case to Aro. Maybe we could come up with something that would be in the best intetrest of all concerned."

"Aro is a busy man, Carlisle." Alec stepped in. "He doesn't have time to listen to a petty case about one worthless human."

I let out a growl and nearly lunged for him. The only thing that kept me from doing it was Bella, who had wrapped her small arms around my waist. I looked to her and reminded myself that I had to keep it under control. There would be no point in starting the fight before it needed to be started. Besides, I was hoping it wouldn't come to a fight anyway.

"I would appreciate it if you would not refer to my daughter in such a manner, Alec." Carlisle said. "I'm not really sure how long she'll be able to hold my son back if you keep it up."

"My apologies." Alec said. I surpressed another growl as he mentally laughed at how far we'd go for the human.

"Look," Demetri stated. "We don't have much time and Aro doesn't like to be kept waiting. So you have two choices. Just hand her over or we'll take her by force."

"I don't want this to come to a fight." Carlisle stated calmly. "But we absolutely refuse to simply hand her over. So you have to do what you have to do."

"Are you sure that's wise, Carlisle?" Felix questioned. "You'd all be willing to die for one expendable human."

"That human as you put is our family." Roxy growled. "And we'll do whatever we have to do to keep her safe."

"Well, the way Aro sees it she's nothing more than the family whore." Jane stated. "Is it true you share her with wolves too?"

She then laughed and I snapped. I lunged toward her. No one was going to degrade my angel like that in front of me. Jane smiled in my direction. Before I knew it, I was on the floor pain shooting through every part of my body. I didn't make a sound, I wouldn't give her that satisfaction. I heard Bella screaming my name. She sounded so scared. She probably didn't know what was happening. It stopped after the longest minute of my life.

"Do you still wanna fight?" she asked.

"No!" Bella yelled. "They don't!"

"Bella, no, you promised!" I yelled looking at her.

She was struggling to get out of Alice's embrace and to me.

"I know but I can't let you guys get hurt!" she yelled.

I got up off the floor as Alice released her. She ran into my arms and started sobbing. I stroked her hair as I held her in my arms.

"You don't have to do this." I whispered. "I wish you wouldn't."

"I know but I can't let you guys get hurt." she cried. "I'm sorry."

"I love you so much." I told her wishing with all my heart that I could cry.

"I love you too." she replied.

"Okay enough with the sappy shit." Alec stated. "Is she coming or what?"

"Back off, Alec." Alice growled. "They'll finish when they're damn good and ready."

"Alice, please try to remember who you are talking to." Alec smirked.

Bella was still sobbing into my arms. Neither of us was ready to let go. We knew, though, if we didn't do it soon, the four would get rough. I didn't want her to be hurt anymore than she had to be.

"We'll come for you. I promise." I whispered to Bella.

_"Aro's counting on that." _Jane thought with a mental laugh.

"Time's up." Alec stated.

I was facing him when he started walking forward. I didn't need my powers to know that he was going to grab Bella from behind. My instincts took over, and I shoved Bella behind me, preparing to face off with Alec. In the split second I took to shove Bella behind me, I realized I wasn't paying enough attention to the thoughts swimming in my head.

Alec was just a distraction and Roxy had it under control. Unfortunately, I fugred it out a split second too late. The room was suddenly filled with Bella's scream of pain which was shortly followed by the horrible sound of a vampire being ripped apart. And both of them was followed by Jane's scream of rage.

Once I finished my turn back to Alec, there was no Alec left. He was in pieces on the floor but none of the family had moved. I spun to see Roxy standing behind the couch with a satisfied smile on her face. It soon turned to a grimace of pain and she dropped to the floor screaming in agony. I looked a little in Jane's direction dropping into an attack crouch. She was holding a crying Bella by her hair. I gulped as Felix began tying rope around her wrists and ankles. Roxy's screams stopped after a minute. Then Jane turned her glare on me.

Looking around the room, I noticed that the entire family was on their feet ready to attack. They were waiting for me to signal an attack. I looked it to Bella's sad and scared eyes as Felix finished his tight knots. She had tears cascading down her face. I was about to give the signal when Carlisle's thoughts hit me hard.

_"Edward, don't do anything right now. I know this is going to be hard but you have to let them take her." _he thought sadly. _"It won't do her any good if we all die now. Our best bet is to go to Volterra and find out exactly what Aro wants. ."_

I didn't know what Carlisle was playing at but I trusted him with everything I had. I knew if he thought it was the best idea then he was probably right. I took one last look at my angel, taking in everything part of her body, and pulled out of the crouch. Confused and angry thoughts hit me as my family did the same thing.

"Tell Aro to expect company in the next few days." Carlisle stated.

"He'll be looking forward to it." Jane replied with a smile. "And Edward, she will pay for what just happened to my brother. I can garuntee that."

With that, Jane dragged her out the door by her hair. I growled in her direction wanting nothing more than to chase after them and rip my angel from their hands. It took everything I had to keep my feet planted where they were.

"What's the deal?" Emmett questioned. "We need to go after them!"

'No we don't." Carlisle stated. "We need to get the earliest possible flight to Volterra. We need to talk to Aro and find out his true motives. Only then can we even begin to come up with a plan to save her."

"Okay but what the hell are we supposed to do until then?" Emmett yelled. "Just let her suffer?"

"No one hates the idea more than me, Emmett." I said. "But it's what's best for Bella in the long run."

"I want you guys to get this cleaned up." Carlisle stated pointing to the mess of Alec's limbs on the ground. "While I call the travel agency and get us the earliest possible flight to Italy. Once your finished, pack as much as you can. We aren't going to leave until Bella is back in our hands. I hope Aro and I can work something out. If not, we'll find another way to get her out. I promise we won't lose her."

With that, Carlisle pulled out his phone and walked to the kitchen. I couldn't seem to find the strength to do anything so I just flopped down on the couch as the others collected Alec's limbs. No one seemed to mind that I wasn't helping. For that I was grateful.

I was so angry with myself. How could I have let them just walk out with Bella? I was a vampire for God's sake but I was too weak to save the love of my life. I knew everything that Carlisle said was right. But I swore to her that I would protect her and I failed miserably. What good was my superhuman strength, speed, and powers if I couldn't use them to save someone I loved?

I hated myself even more than I ever had in my existence. She's just a defenseless human and I was her strong and powerful protector. Yet, I couldn't protect her from those bastards.

I was in a daze and barely noticed when Carlisle sat on the couch next to me.

"We'll get her back, Edward." he said. "I swear we will."

**A/N: I hope that wasn't a bad ending to this chapter. I just couldn't figure out how to end. Also, I'm sorry, I know I promised you a fight but I thought this was slightly more emotional. Besides, I'm not all the great with fight scenes anyway. I hope you liked the way I did it though. Also, I know it seems like the Cullens are really stupid, not figuring out Aro's motives for wanting Bella. I suppose it could be described as one of those thing where it's so obvious that nobody sees it. I don't know. But I do hope you like this chapter. I worked hard on it for five hours, still I'm not completely staisfied and might change it. Let me know what you guys think. Please review. **

**P.S. I know Edward wouldn't really let them take Bella without a fight. But he knows that Carlisle knows what he's doing. Which is why he didn't attack. **


	7. Pet

**A/N: I was sad to see that I didn't get any reviews on my last chapter. Does that mean you guys are mad at me? I hope not. I promise things will get better eventually. Unfortunately, they'll have to get worse first. I hope you guys are still liking this story though. **

**BELLA**

It was the longest day of my life. I can't remember much of what happened after Alice told us they were coming today. I definitely don't remember anything anyone said. All I remembered was the looks on everyone's face the whole day and Edward's arms around me. I knew it was hopeless for them to win. They knew it too. Yet, the were all willing to fight for me. I hated that.

They didn't need to sacrifice themselves for me. Not when this whole thing was my fault to begin with. They'd never believe it but it was. I knew I'd have to break my promise to Edward at some point because I wasn't going to let them get hurt because of me. I just had to wait for the opportune moment. (A/N: Cookies for anyone who knows where that line comes from.)

Nothing really happened until seven o'clock. I couldn't hear anything but I noticed everyone tense up, so I assumed they were coming up the drive. I tensed up just as much as the family did and felt Edward pull me closer to his side.

After what seemed like forever, we distinctly heard four doors close and footsteps coming up the front steps. I let out a small whimper when someone knocked on the door.

Carlisle answered it with Esme right beside him.

"Jane, it's wonderful to see you." Carlisle said in an almost believable cheerful manner. "And you brought Alec, Demetri, and Felix. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Perhaps we should talk about it inside." Jane suggested in her falsely kind voice. "You may need to sit down."

My breathing hitched just slightly as we heard Carlisle agree. Edward ran his fingers through my hair and pulled me a little closer. My heart sped up to a nearly alarming rate when Carlisle stepped back into the living room with Jane, Demetri, Felix, and Alec. (A/N: You all know what they look like and I'm I have a time limit tonight so I won't go through the descriptions. She knows which ones are which because Edward described them to her in preparation for this moment.)

"Look, children." Carlisle said still maintaining the falsely polite voice. "We have company."

There were several murmurs of hello from around the room. No one other than Carlisle seemed up to pretending to be polite. After all, we all knew what they really wanted.

"Please sit." Esme stated attempting the same tone as Carlisle but failing miserably.

I paniced a little when I realized the space beside me was empty. It looked for a second that Jane was going to sit there. Alice must have seen what she was going to do because she stood quickly and said,

"Jane, why don't you sit here. It's the most comfortable chair in the house."

She, too, had tried to adpot the same polite tone as Carlisle but couldn't make it sound believeable. Jane looked at her for a long time. I worried that she would use her gift on Alice. I surpressed a shudder at the thought. Edward told me that it was worse than any kind of torture out there. Jane, however, ended up simply taking the seat that Alice offered. Alice slid onto the couch beside me. I noticed Edward shoot her a grateful look.

It took me a second to realize that the entire family had moved from their orginal spots. Our guests were now occupying their old seats. Jasper had placed himself on the floor in front of me. Emmett and Rosalie now stood behind the couch. Emmett had his arms around Rosalie. Carlisle had taken the seat next to Edward and Esme sat on the arm next to him. Roxy was sitting on the back of the couch just above my head.

I knew what they were doing and I wished they wouldn't. They should've kept themselves spread to better defend themselves. They shouldn't have put themselves together in the center of the room to protect me.

"We've come to discuss the future of your human." Jane stated without preamble.

"Her name is Bella." Edward growled. Jane smiled.

"Of course." she said. "Aro would like us to take Bella back to Volterra with us."

"Can I ask why?" Carlisle questioned.

"Well, as you know, the rules have been broken and she knows our secret." Jane stated. "She's an exposure risk."

"As I have explained to Aro, I don't believe she is that much of a risk." Carlise replied.

"Aro feels different and it's Aro's opinion that matters, not yours, Carlisle."

"I understand that, Jane. However, I will not hand one of my daughters over to you until I know exactly why she is being taken."

"Aro did not give us details, he simply requested that we bring her to him so that she may be dealt with."

"Then we request that we be allowed to come with you and present a case to Aro. Maybe we could come up with something that would be in the best intetrest of all concerned."

"Aro is a busy man, Carlisle." Alec stepped in. "He doesn't have time to listen to a petty case about one worthless human."

Edward let out a growl and nearly attempted to lunged for Alec. I was glad that I had wrapped my arms around his waist because it was the only thing that kept him from launching an all out attack. He looked at me and I silently begged him to keep it under control. Their words couldn't hurt me but it would kill me if Edward or any of the family got hurt. There would be no point in starting the fight before it needed to be started. Besides, I was hoping it wouldn't come to a fight anyway.

"I would appreciate it if you would not refer to my daughter in such a manner, Alec." Carlisle said. "I'm not really sure how long she'll be able to hold my son back if you keep it up."

It touched me to see Carlisle defending me against those words. I've always thought of him as my father. Yet, it still shocked me every time he acted like it.

"My apologies." Alec said. He looked quite surprised at how much the entire family was willing to do for me.

"Look," Demetri stated. "We don't have much time and Aro doesn't like to be kept waiting. So you have two choices. Just hand her over or we'll take her by force."

"I don't want this to come to a fight." Carlisle stated calmly. "But we absolutely refuse to simply hand her over. So you have to do what you have to do."

"Are you sure that's wise, Carlisle?" Felix questioned. "You'd all be willing to die for one expendable human."

"That human as you put is our family." Roxy growled. "And we'll do whatever we have to do to keep her safe."

"Well, the way Aro sees it she's nothing more than the family whore." Jane stated. "Is it true you share her with wolves too?"

She then laughed and I felt Edward pull himself from my grip. He lunged toward her. I yelled for him to stop but he didn't seem to hear me. There was no need for him to defend my honor like this. I knew it wasn't true. Then again, Edward was so overprotective that he didn't care whether or not the words hurt me. All he knew was that Jane had insulted me in the worst possible way and he needed to defend me against that. Jane smiled at him. I knew enough about her gift to know what she was about to do. Edward hit the floor a split second later. I saw his face contort in pain but he didn't make a sound. I yelled his name and tried to get to him but Alice held me back. I struggled against her still screaming with tears in my eyes. It stopped after the longest minute of my life.

"Do you still wanna fight?" Jane asked.

"No!" I yelled. "They don't!"

I knew that I was breaking my promise but I didn't care. All I cared about was making sure that these monsters couldn't hurt Edward or the rest of my family anymore.

"Bella, no, you promised!" Edward yelled looking toward me.

I struggled against Alice even more trying to get to him. I had to make sure that he was alright before I was taken away. I needed to take in everything about him so I didn't forget him.

"I know but I can't let you guys get hurt!" I yelled.

He got up off the floor and Alice finally released me. I ran into his arms and started sobbing. He stroked my hair as he held me in his arms.

"You don't have to do this." he whispered. "I wish you wouldn't."

"I know but I can't let you guys get hurt." I cried. "I'm sorry."

"I love you so much." He told me and I knew he wanted nothing more than to be able to cry.

"I love you too." I replied.

"Okay enough with the sappy shit." Alec stated from behind me. "Is she coming or what?"

"Back off, Alec." Alice growled. "They'll finish when they're damn good and ready."

"Alice, please try to remember who you are talking to." Alec smirked.

I was still sobbing in Edward's arms. Neither of us was ready to let go. We knew, though, if we didn't do it soon, the four would get rough. I didn't want him to be hurt anymore than was necessary.

"We'll come for you. I promise." Edward whispered to me.

The next few seconds happened very quickly. Edward shoved me behind him. A split second later, I felt pain shooting through the back of my head as Jane grabbed my hair by the roots and dragged me back. I screamed in pain but it was nearly drowned out by the horrible sound of a vampire being ripped apart. This was followed by Jane's scream of rage.

By the time the pain in my head subsided enough for me to see, I realized that Alec was in pieces on the floor. Roxy was standing behind the couch with a satified smile on her face. Edward was looking at Roxy in utter shock. Suddenly, Roxy was on the floor screaming in agony. I barely registered that Felix was tying up my wirsts and ankles.

The minute Roxy started screaming, Edward had dropped into an attack crouch. The rest of the family followed suite when Roxy's screams subsided. It was a tense few minutes where I wasn't sure if the family was going to attack or not. I tried to fight through my fear and sadness to tell Edward to just let me go. I could tell it wasn't working. Edward finally pulled out of the crouch and the rest of the family did the same thing.

"Tell Aro to expect company in the next few days." Carlisle stated.

"He'll be looking forward to it." Jane replied. "And Edward, she will pay for what just happened to my brother. I can garuntee that."

With that, Jane dragged me out the door by my hair. I heard Edward and prayed they wouldn't come after us. Jane dragged me over to a red '69 mustang convertible and threw me in the trunk.

As we drove, I tried not to think of my family who were probably blaming themselves for this. I hoped they knew that I'd rather be where I was right now, knowing that they were all alive and safe. Then be back at the house and free, knowing they were dead. I slept on and off during the long car ride. It took everything I had not to imagine all the horrible thing that they could possibly do to me.

After what seemed like forever, the trunk of the car opened and I was face to face with Demetri. I gulped as he yanked me out of the trunk and threw me over his shoulder. From what I could see, from that odd angle, we were in some kind of runway. Before I knew it, I was being shoved into the seat of a private jet. I tried to keep my breathing regular and put on a brave face. Though, I was well away of my rapidly beating heart. I knew the three vampires on board could hear it too.

Suddenly, Jane was in my face.

"You're scared." she smirked. "That's good. You should be. I don't know what Aro wants with you but I can garuntee that it won't be pleasant. I just hope that when he's finished, he'll let be dispose of you." She laughed. "I'd love nothing more than to rip you into tiny pieces and send them, gift wrapped, to you little boyfriend."

I wanted to smack that disgusting smirk off of her face. Unfortunately, my hands were tied, literally. In fact, they were pinned between my back and the seat as well. That didn't stop me though, I simply did the next best thing. I hulked back as much snot as I could and spit it into her face.

"You bitch!" she yelled and backhanded me. I felt her hand tear the flesh on my cheek as I flew out of my seat. I hit the ground a felt a little blood trickle down my cheek.

The taunting and abuse continued after that. Demetri and Felix even got into it too. By the time we landed in Italy, my whole body was throbbing. Felix dragged me off the plane by my feet and I was thrown into the trunk of another car.

I was glad to be away from them. My body needed time to recover from what they did before we got to Aro. I, somehow, knew that those four were nothing compared to Aro and his brothers. I allowed the sobs that I spent hours holding back to wrack through my body as we drove.

All too soon, Jane had opened the trunk and pulled me out by the hair. She dragged me over to the other two, who were standing over what looked like a large drain. Demetri jump down it and Jane shoved me, not too gently, down after him. He caught me by the arm and pulled me out of the way. Felix landed on his feet next to us, a second later. Jane wasn't far behind him.

Demetri started dragging me down what looked like an undergrounds tunnel. It took a lot of effort to stay on my feet. They had yet to be unbound. I was too scared to take in my surroundings as we continued through the tunnel. We, finally, emerged in what looked like some kind of reception area. There were chairs scattered around the room and a small desk in the corner.

There was a woman behind the desk. I could tell at first glance that she was a human. That knowledge confused me a little but I was in no position to ask questions. Jane, Felix, and Demetri walked over to the desk. Demetri, pulling me with him. He had a painful, vice like grip on my arm.

"Gianna," Jane said to the human. Her tone was one of deepest disgust. "Tell Aro that his guest has arrived."

"Of course, Miss Jane." Gianna replied with a slight incline of her head.

She then disappeared through the door behind her. Demetri loosened his grip just slightly and we stood there just waiting. Gianna returned a couple minutes later.

"He's ready for her." she stated looking at Jane.

"Thank you." Jane replied with the same disgusted tone.

Demetri tightened his grip on my arm and dragged me through the door. I got a quick glimpse of a cavernous room with three men sitting on throne like chairs before Demetri forced me to my knees. I wasn't sure if I'd get in trouble for looking at them or not so I simply stared at the stone floor.

"Jane, my dear, you succeeded." one of the men, I assumed it was Aro, stated. "And with how much trouble?"

"Very little." Jane replied. "She didn't want them hurt so she handed herself over."

"I see." Aro replied. "But where is Alec?"

Jane growled but then there was silence for a long time. Edward had told me that he and Aro had pretty much the same power. With only slight differences. Aro had to be touching the person in order to read them but he could see more than just random passing thoughts. He could anything and everything you've ever thought, said, or done.

I figured the silence meant that Jane was replaying the events from the Cullen house in her head.

"Such a pity." Aro said after about five minutes. "He was a wonderful asset to the guard. I'm sorry you had to loose you're brother, Jane dear. I will allow you to take some form of vengence.

"Thank you master." she replied quietly.

"Now, let's move on to bigger and better things." he said as if the death of a member of his guard didn't bother him in the slightest. "Demetri would you please go find Heidi and have her help you prepare our guest's room as well as the _playroom._"

The way he said playroom caused me to shudder in disgust.

"Of course master." Demetri answered and I heard the door open and close siganling his exit.

"Now, as for our little guest." Aro said and I saw his feet coming toward me. "I bet you're wondering why I had you brought here." I didn't say anything just continued to stare at the floor. "Come now Isabella." he taunted. "I know you have a voice. Use it."

I, still didn't say anything as I knelt there. I felt terrible pain in the back of my head. He had grabbed by hair by it's roots and pulled back until I was looking into his dark red eyes. I started to tremble because he looked so scary.

"I'll say it one more time and I expect an answer." He growled. "I bet you're wondering why I had you brought here."

"Yes." I managed to choke out.

"Good girl." he smirked and shoved me back to the ground. "You are here for two reasons. The first being that your family borke our law by telling you there secret."

"They didn't tell me anything." I said through gritted with my face still on the floor. "I figured it out."

"Be that as it may," he stated with a laugh. "You're still a human who knows our secret. You could tell the other humans. So you have to be dealt with. Normally, I would've just had Jane go and kill you on the spot but I realized that I have an use for you. You see, you're family has three things that of wanted for a very long time. And one of just discovered. However, with you in my possession, I'm one step closer to getting those things."

That's when it finally clicked. The piece that was missing fell into place. He wanted Alice, Jasper, Edward, and Roxanne to join his guard. And he was going to use me to make sure that he got them.

"They would never join you." I said.

"We'll see when they come visit in a couple days." Aro laughed. "Once they've had a chance to see what it means for you to be my pet." I still hadn't looked up but I could sense him cricling me. "Now, as my new pet, there are some rules that you will have to follow. Now, your health will depend on how well you follow these rules so pay attention. You are belong to me now, which means that you will do everything that I tell you to. You will also obey any order my brothers or the guard give you. You will refer to the guard, my brothers, and myself as sir or miss. You will not speak unless you are spoken too. You new name is pet and you will answer to nothing but that name from now on. Your body is no longer yours, it belongs to me as well. I will do anything I want with it as will my brothers and the guard. You will crawl on your hands and knees like the animal you are. You will not eat or sleep unless you have permission from me. If you do not obey these rules then you will be punished accordingly. Do you have any questions?"

Once again, I didn't answer, I just continued to stare at the stone floor.

"I asked you a question pet." he nearly yelled. "I expect an answer."

I still didn't say anything. I suddenly felt extra pressure on my head. It felt like he had placed his foot on my head and was pressing it closer to the floor. He moved his foot rubbing my nose even further into the dirty stone floor. It was painful but I didn't give him the satisfaction of a reaction.

"Now, pet, I'll ask you one last time." he said removing his foot. "Do you have any questions?"

"No sir." I answered still staring at the floor.

"Good pet." he replied. "Now, there's one thing that's missing. I heard soft footsteps and the clanging of a chain. "Sit up for me, please, pet."

I mananged to push myself back onto my knees with difficulty because of my tied up hands. He clamped a manacle type thing around my throat. I had a feeling it was supposed to be like a collar. I knew I was right when I saw the chain long chain like leash the was linked to it.

"Now," he said into my ear. "I'm going to undo these ropes so you can move on your own. But if you try anything, I'm going to have to punish you."

I just nodded. I wouldn't try to escape because I knew they'd catch me and that'd just make things worse. It was a relief as her gently untie the ropes. I examined my hands though and I found I had deep rope burns on both wrists.

"Good pet." Aro patted my head when he finished. "Now, Jane, Felix, I think Demetri should be finished with the playroom by now. Why don't you take her there and get her ready. We'll be in shortly.

"Of course, master." Jane answered as Aro handed her the chain.

She began to pull at it but I wouldn't move. I knew exactly what he and his brothers were planning on doing to me and I wasn't going to make it easy for them. Of course, Jane continued pulling and I was dragged a few inches, the manacle digging into my neck. After a minute, I felt Aro grab the roots of my hair again.

"Now, pet." he whispered. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I would prefer not to hurt you anymore than I have too. But if you give me a reason to I will. So why don't you just be good and go with Jane and Felix?"

"Go to hell!" I said trying to get out of his grasp.

Aro sighed.

"Fine!" he said. "Have it your way."

He released my hair and kicked me hard across the face. I felt a split second of pain in my head before everything faded to black.

**A/N: What do you think? Please review. **


	8. Fun

**A/N: This is your warning. This entire is going to be a rather graphic rape scene. It will probably lose me lots of readers. If anyone is offended, please just skip this chapter. Also, any flames will be deleted. I hope you enjoy it. **

**AUTHOR**

I forgot to mention in this last chapter about the Cullens' flight plan. The earliest flight with eight open seats that Carlisle could manage to get wasn't until 8:00 A.M. the morning after Bella was taken. I'm not sure on the exact timeline of Bella's kidnapping and their arrival in Volterra so we are just going to say that the Cullens our flying to Italy roughly the same time this scene is taking place. I hope I didn't confuse any of you.

**BELLA**

I woke up with a pounding headache. When I tried to reach my hand up to check for any kind of welt or bump, I couldn't move my hands. My eyes snapped open as panic started to set in. The first thing I realized was that I was completely naked and I was lying on some kind of metal table. Upon further inspection, I noticed that my hands were chained to the table above my head. I lifted my head and looked down my body as best I could. I was on the edge of the table with my feet chained to something that felt like a bench below the table.

I looked around the room trying to see if I was alone or not. The room, itself, was similiar to the one I was in before. It was slightly smaller and there wasn't much furniture. From the look of things, it was just the table I was laying on. There was a door directly across from the table. Jane and Felix were standing guard in front of it. I twisted my head a little more to see if the brothers were there.

"Look brothers, she's finally awake." An unfamiliar voice came from the corner. A man with long snow white hair stepped into my line of vision. He walked slowly to me and began rubbing his hands over my upper body. "She has a beautiful body even for a human."

"I know, Caius." Aro replied coming out of the corner as well. "Young Edward has exsqusite taste."

He stopped at the lower have of my body and began running his hands over my inner thighs and vaginal area.

"She's got a beautiful face too." Marcus, I assumed, said as he came into view.

He traced my jawline and started stroking my cheek. I flinched as their cold hands continued to explore those parts of my body. After a minuste or so, Aro walked up to sit next to my head.

"I think, though, that we should do this one at a time." he said. "We don't want to overwhelm her. Do we pet?" He pushed some of my hair back away from my face.

"Please, don't do this." I cried trying to hold back the tears.

"Calm down, darling." he said in a mock soothing voice. "It won't hurt that much so long as you do what you're told."

He then moved from the table and began taking off his clothes.

"Please, don't." I begged as he walked down to my legs.

"Shush." he said in a condescending tone.

I felt him place his index finger on my clit. He started to gently rub it. I was disgusted to realize that it actually felt good. I was even more disgusted when the moan of pleasure escaped my lips. I heard three short chuckles as Aro increased the pressure. The moan of pleasure eventually became a scream of pain as Aro continued to increase the pressure. It wasn't long before he shoved all four of his fingers inside me.

It hurt so bad, I couldn't hold back my screams. Yes, Jacob and I had done this before so it wasn't like Aro was stratching me that badly, but he wasn't being very gentle about it. My screams were drowned out by Marcus and Caius's laughter. Several minutes of torture later, Aro removed his fingers, which were covered in my blood, and with a sadistic smile, he licked each one of them clean. He made noises indicating that he enjoyed my blood the whole time. When his fingers were clean, he positioned himself at my opening.

"Please, don't." I cried again as the tears began to fall.

Aro simply smirked at me while the other two laughed. Aro then rammed himself into me. I screamed in pain again as he pushed his way inside. He didn't even wait for me to adjust to him, he simply continued to ram himself in and out of me. I screamed, cried, and begged as he thrust got harder and deeper. He and his brothers continued to laugh at me reactions. I could feel Aro tearing me up inside.

I knew he was holding back, though. From everything Edward had said about vampires and sex, if Aro had gone all out, I'd be dead or unconcious before he was finished. I wasn't sure how long the pain lasted before his release came. My stomach turned horribly as I felt his seed spill into me. I wanted nothing more than to throw up but I wasn't sure what he'd do if I did so I swallowed back the urge.

I closed my eyes and let the tears continue to fall as he got dressed. Part of me hoped the others had lost interest by now but I knew that wouldn't be the case. Sure enough, not even a minute later, I felt somone shove a couple pillows under my head so that it was propped up. Confused, I opened my eyes to see a naked Caius on his knees straddling my chest. His large penis was daggling a few inches from my face. I gulped and looked up at him. He had the same disgusting smirk on his face as Aro.

"Open your mouth!" he ordered.

Afraid of what he might do, I obeyed. He moved just slightly and traced my lips with the head of his penis then he leaned forward until he was in my mouth. "Lick it!" He told me.

I shook my head at that order. My eyes were closed again. I was trying to block out everything that was happening. I suddenly felt Caius's cold fingers pinched my nipple then twist it. I let out a cry of pain that was muffled by his cock. All three men laughed.

"Lick it." he repeated.

Slowly, I brought my tongue up and began manuevering it around his penis just like I had with Jacob that night. Once I opened the order, Caius released my nipple and began moving himself in and out of my mouth. He told me to suck as he did this. The tears were coming in greater quantities as the torture continued.

At one point, he was so far in that most of him was down my throat. It took everything I had not to panic and gag on him. I couldn't breathe but he didn't care. I eventually felt him start cuming down my throat. He pulled himself out enough to allow the cum to flow over my tongue. It was the worst thing that I ever tasted in my life. Jacob had pulled out before he got to this point.

"Swallow it." Caius order once he finished. It took every once of strength I had to swallow it and keep it down.

Once he was sure that I had it all down, he pulled himself out of my mouth and started to kiss and lick his way down my body. I continued to beg and sry for him to stop but all three of them just laughed as Caius continued down my body.

When he made it to between my legs, I felt his tongue push its way between my lips. I grooaned in disgust every time it flicked my clit. I had a feeling that he was trying to get to any blood that Aro had left. The urge to vomit was getting harder and harder everytime he pushed his tongue back in.

When he finally pulled away, I thought he was done. I had no idea how wrong I was. My eyes were still tightly shut but I felt him position himself and ram into me ten time harder than Aro did. I screamed so loud and hard I was surprised that I still had a voice. Once again, the screams were drowned out by the men's laughter. I bucked my hips trying to throw him off of me but he didn't budge.

I could hear him saying things to me but I tried to block them out. I tried to think of Edward rushing in and yanking him off. Unfortunately, the pain was so intense the images didn't last long.

"Please stop!" I screamed over and over again.

My pleas were met with laughter over and over again. When Caius finally pulled out, it was so abruptly that I couldn't help but open my eyes to see what he was planning. He had ejaculated into his own hand. I hoped he wasn't going to make me swallow that too. I didn't think I could keep it down again. Fortunately, he didn't make me eat it. Instead, he smeared it all over my face. I closed my eyes to keep any of it from getting in them.

I prayed that whatever Marcus had planned wouldn't be worse than what Caius had just done. I suppose that I was meant to suffer a little more before this was over because after a whispered conversation with his brothers, he said,

"Jane, Felix, kindly flip her over for me."

I gulped as I felt them undoing the chains. I knew what he was going to do. As badly as I wanted to fight it, I knew I didn't have the strength or energy so I simply allowed them to do it. Thankfully, watching Caius and Aro was enough foreplay for Marcus. Once I was back into place, he simply positioned himself at the opening of my ass and rammed into just as hard as his brothers had.

I wanted to scream but the pain was so intense no sound would come out. I silently begged and cried for it to be over. I tried to block out the pain and the laughter but there was just too much. I couldn't take much more.

Marcus didn't last as long as the other. I was grateful for that. However, he kept going several minutes after his climax. Which made things ten times more painful for me. When he did finish and pulled out, I couldn't hold it in anymore. I completely broke down on the tabletop. I was vaguely aware of being released from the chains and pushed to the floor.

"Jane, Felix," Aro said. "You two and Demetri will be rewarded for your success but unfortunately, she won't be able to handle much more without some rest. So take her and clean her up. Get her dressed then let her sleep for a few hours. Once she's had at least, four hours sleep, you can have your fun. Just remember the rules."

"Of course, master, thank you." Jane said.

I was still sobbing uncontrollably when I felt Aro pat my head.

"Good pet." he stated from above me.

Caius on the other got right down by my ear and whispered,

"That was the best I've ever had. I can't wait for next time."

Marcus simply spat on me before walking away. I heard the door open and then close siganling their exit. I continued to lay there in a sobbing and broken heap until Jane and Felix took me to do what Aro told them to.

**A/N: I hope this one doesn't lose me any readers. Like I said flames will be deleted. I'd like to know what you guys think about though. So please review it. Also, I'm sorry the ending kind of sucked but it's two thirty in the morning and I'm really tired. I hope you guys enjoyed it all the same. Have a good night. **


	9. The Pain of Negotiating

**A/N: I want to apologize for my lack of showing the Cullens heading to the rescue. This is simply because I can't think of much to do with that except the same old Edward blames himself and the others try to console him. I figure that's not too important though. Don't worry, they make a reappearance in this chapter. Also, we are coming to the stuff that I've been planning since the middle of Hurt Like This. It will be a little tedious because some of these next chapters will be repeated. One from Bella's P.O.V. and one from Edward's P.O.V. I think both sides are very important in a couple of the chapters. I hope it doesn't get too tedious and broing for you. Anyway, on with the story. THERE IS NO RAPE IN THIS CHAPTER. HOWEVER, THERE IS QUITE A BIT OF ABUSE. I just figured I'd let everyone know they could read it without worry. **

**BELLA**

Jane and Felix did exactly what Aro had requested. However, they were anything but gentle. My skin was still red and nearly raw from the rough way they had scrubbed it. My entire body was throbbing with just formed bruises. My woman parts were worse off than the rest of my body. I was grateful for Aro's order of four hours rest before the others got to play. I wasn't sure how much more abuse my body could handle.

I was now laying on a very thin mattress in a very small room. There was a toilet right next to the mattress. It was so filthy that the smell coming from it was making me nauseous. The room was very cold and the clothes Jane and Felix put on me didn't provide much warmth.

The out fit consisted of a tank top that was held up by only one strap, it had rips and holes all over it. And a black skirt that barely covered anything, it too had rips and holes all over it. I could see the dried blood stains all over the outfit. The thought that I was wearing clothes that used to belong to one of their meals made me even more nauseous. I was barefoot and didn't even have any kind of blanket to cover up with.

I knew I should've been trying to get some sleep but I didn't want too. I was scared of what they'd do if one of them came in while I was asleep. Besides, I was so cold and uncomfortable, I wouldn't have been able to sleep even if I wanted to. Instead, I sat myself against a wall and pulled my knees to my chest. I wrapped my arms around my knees and rested my head on them.

All I could think about was what my family could possibly be doing at this moment. Were they on a plane flying to my rescue? Or did they simply say screw the human, let her figure it out for herself? As much as it hurt to think about, I hoped it was the latter. I didn't want them to risk their lives coming to save me. They already sacrificed enough for me. I didn't want them to have to give up course, the selfish part of me was praying Edward would come bursting in the door and take me out of this hell whole. Unfortunately, I knew that would take a miracle.

I wasn't sure how, but at some point, I ended up lying back down on the mattress. I was still curled up in my little ball for warmth. I let the tears slide down my face as I closed my eyes and imagined that I was in Edward's protective embrace.

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I screamed as it felt like something was slicing into my back. My scream was met with a chuckle as I turned around slowly. Jane was standing over me with a rawhide whip in her hand and a disgusting smirk on her face. Demetri and Felix were on either side of her with the same disgusting smirks. I gulped as Jane fished for the key to unlock the padlock where my leash was hooked. They had wanted to make sure I didn't escape.

"Wakey, wakey, human." Demtritaunting getting in my face. "It's our turn to have some fun."

Jane started yanking on the leash indicating that I should move. I didn't fight it because I was scared what she would do if I did.

"This room is way to small for any proper fun so we're taking you back to the playroom." Jane said as we made our way down the hallway.

When we finally reached the playroom, she dragged me inside and unhooked the leash from my collar. I eyed the metal table with aprehension. Demetri and Felix just laughed.

"Don't worry, angel." Felix stated stroking my face. "We've been told that only Aro and his brothers are allowed to play like that."

His hand slid from my cheek to my breast.

"It's a pity, though." Demetri injected. "You do have some fantastic potential."

He started to massage my other breast. Their hands wandered over my upper body for a few more minutes before Jane cleared her throat.

"As fun as it is to watch the human cringe." she stated. "I wouldn't want the two of you to get into any trouble. So knock it off. Besides, there are plenty of other ways for us to torture her with minimal effort on our part."

She got down on my level and turned her angelic smile on me. My heart started to race as I realized that she was going to use her gift on me. I had wondered on the plane why she didn't attempt to use it but I didn't mention it. It was something that I had really wanted to avoid having to deal with. I braced myself for the pain that was going to be coursing through my whole body any minute. Only the pain never came. Jane continued to stare at me. She looked like she was straining herself to make it work.

"That's interesting." she said after a good five minutes. "I'll have to inform Aro of this. I've never met anyone it hasn't worked on before. No matter." she smirked again. "There are plenty of other ways to make you scream."

She backhanded me and I went flying across the room. I landed hard on my left side but didn't make any noise to indicate how much pain I was in. I heard a small chuckle and suddenly she was right by my ear.

"Trying to be brave are we?" she taunted. "I can guaruntee you'll be screming by the time we're finished with you."

She kicked me in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me. I curled into a ball gaspng for air but didn't make any other sound. She chuckled again and kicked me in the back. The boys joined in soon after that. They took turns holding me down as the others hit, kicked and punched me wherever they could. They were all three very good at controlling their strength enough to make it hurt but not do any serious damage.

Throughout the entire beating, I didn't make a sound or shed a tear. I made the mistake of losing it with the brothers, I wasn't about to do it with these three. Especially not Jane. She was determined to make me suffer for what Roxy did to her brother. When the finally stopped, I curled into a ball gasping for breath. I still refused refused to cry.

After a minute of whispered conversation, I felt Jane grab a handful of my hair and my head up. Somehow, I managed to hold in the squeak of surprise.

"We aren't leaving this room until I hear you scream." she said in voice full of venom. "And I know just how to do it."

She shoved my head back to the floor. A couple seconds later, it, once again, felt like something was slicing into my back. I knew Jane had gone for the whip and she wasn't going to show any mercy this time. I managed to hold in my screams for the first few slashes but then it became to much. I began giving her everything she wanted. I screamed, cried, and begged for it to end. She and the boys just laughed as she continued to beat me.

She stopped, quite abruptly, a minute or two later. I was too weak to turn around but I heard the door open behind me.

"What is it Gianna?" Jane asked in exasperated disgust.

"Master Aro, wants you three to bring his pet out to the reception room." Gianni stated sounding apathetic about walking in on one of her kind being beaten by one of her bosses. "He would always like you three to join the guard that has assembled their."

"Did he say why?" Jane questioned.

"Master's pet's family has come to negotiate her freedom." Gianna replied. "He wants the entire guard there to make sure thing to get out of hand."

"Very well." Jane stated. "Run ahead and tell him we're on our way."

"Of course, Miss Jane."

The door opened and closed as she left. Jane was suddenly kneeling next to me again.

"Are you ready for this, bitch?" she asked as she reconnected my leash. "We're going to make quite the entrance. I want your boyfrined to get a good look at you."

With that she began pulling on the chain. I got up and started crawling with her as best I could. Pain shot across my back with every move I made. I was well aware that it was still bleeding. She simply laughed as I attempted to crawl down the hallway. Every once in awhile she tug on the chain a little harder indicating that I needed to move faster. We eveantually made it to the door leading to the recpetion area.

Jane didn't lie when she said that we were going to make an entrance. The door we entered from was right in front of everyone. As it opened and I was half dragged through, I noticed the walls were lined with every member of the guard. My family stood in the middle of the room looking angry and apprehensive as I crawled in. Jane lead me right across the front of the room. As we passed the family, I was mere inches from Edward. I could've reached out and touched. I held back, though, because I knew we'd both get into trouble. I heard him let out a growl as we passed.

When we finally made it to Aro, Jane handed my leash to him and she, Felix and Demetri took their places with the rest of the guard.

"We don't you stand up pet?" Aro said running his hands through my hair. "Let your family get a good look at you."

Slowly and painfully, I stood cringing with every every move I made. I stood there staring at my family as they stared at me. Carlisle and Esme were standing next to each other, fingers intertwined, both were looking horrified. Rose and Alice were standing next to each other looking like they were ready to kill. Jasper and Emmett were standing on either side of Edward. The each had a hold of his arms. They looked as though they were in charge of holding him back. Though, both looked like the wanted nothing more than to let Edward go at it. Roxy was behind Edward. She looked torn between worry and fear, unsure of what she should do.

After a minute or so of staring, Edward let out another growl and attempted to launch himself at Aro. Emmett and Jasper did a fantastic job of holding him back. Roxy ended up throwing her arms around his waist as extra reinforcement. Edward let out another low growl but calmed after a second or two. I shot a grateful look toward Jasper. He smiled at me sadly.

"You know Edward." Aro stated grabbing me by the hair. I flinched at the pain and prepared myself for more. "You really should learn to control your temper."

Aro used hi hold on my hair to make me face him then he forced his lips against mine. I gasped in surprised and he took the opportunity to shove his tongue into my mouth. He moved it around my impassive one for a few short seconds. I probably would've thrown up if I hadn't just had Caius's cock in my mouth that morning. I geard Edward let out another growl and a scuffle that indicted he was trying to get free again.

"Aro, can we please get to the point?" Carlisle asked once Aro released me. I could hear the disgust and anger in his voice. "I'm not sure how much longer my sons can hold Edward back. And I can assure you that, as angry as he is right now, he's liable to take out more than half your guard. I don't want to see that happen and I'm sure you don't either."

"Very well." Aro replied. "Sit pet."

I had found a sudden courage in knowing that my family was there. I decided if they were going to go through all this trouble to not give up on me. Then I was going to give up on myself. I was going to stand up to him from now until the day I died. I stood defiantly disobeying his order.

"Pet," he said and grabbed my hair, harder this time. "Just because we have guests, doesn't mean the rules have changed. Now, I said sit."

He kicked the back of my legs. My knees gave into the force and I crumpled. I let out a small whimper as my knee connected painfully with the floor. Edward let out another growl but didn't try to break free of his siblings. I looked at him willing him to come down and not worry about me. I wasn't sure how well it worked but I saw him take a few unecessary breaths and stared back at me.

"Now," Carlisle contined. "We know that you want somthing from us. Or else you wanted have gone through all of this trouble to get Bella and lure us here. So why don't you just tell us what it is that you want. I can assure you that we'd give up everything for Bella's freedom."

I knew that statement was true. However, I couldn't let them do it this time. They meant to much to me for me to allow any of them to be forced into a life that they didn't want. I couldn't let them do that. I would have to find a way to keep it from happening.

"I'm afraid it isn't that easy, Carlisle." Aro replied. "You see, you have a very unique family with four very unique powers. Powers that I would love to see on my guard. One's that I would do anything to get. I'd love to have all four of them. However, considering that I only have one person to trade, I will except one of the four in exchange."

"You want me to barter one of my children for another." Carlisle questioned.

"Don't do it, Carlisle!" I yelled.

"Silence pet!" Aro yelled and kicked me in the stomach.

I leaned forward gasping to get my breath back. I heard Edward struggling and looked up to see the other three holding on to him with all their might.

"I do it!" Edward said. "I'll join you. Just stop hurting her!"

"No, Edward you can't!" I pleaded.

"I said shut up!" Aro yelled and backhanded me.

I flew across the room and hit the floor hard. Edward broke free this time. I watched in horror as he hit the floor half way through his lunge at Aro. His face was contorted in pain but he didn't make a sound. I looked up to see Jane smiling only a few feet away from him.

"No! Edward! Leave him alone!" I cried trying to call to him.

Aro yanked back on the chain hard. The manacle pushed against my throat and gagged me for a moment. The next thing I knew, I was laying on my back, the open wounds seeing from making contact with the stone floor.

By the time I had gotten back up, Jane had removed her power from Edward and Alice was by his side. They were staring at each other as if they were having one of their silent conversations.

"No, Alice." he replied outloud. "This is my fault and I'm going to do it."

"No Edward." she pleaded. "It's mine, I should've just let you deal with her the way you wanted to."

"Don't go there, Alice." Edward stated.

"Aro," Carlise stated cutting off their argument. "Could we please have some time to discuss this as a family?"

"Of course," Aro replied. "I'll give you twenty four hours. If you have not made a decision by then, I will be keeping my pet for as long as I like."

"Fine." Carlisle stated with disgust. "We'll get a hotel then and discuss it tonight. I would like to request, though, that you not harm Bella until we have made a decision."

"Unfortunately, Carlisle, I can't promise you that." Aro answered. "She hasn't be very well behaved this evening and she really needs to be punished."

"You keep your hands off of her you son of a-" Edward yelled but Alice clamped a hand over his mouth. Aro just chuckled.

Emmett and Jasper had resumed their hold on Edward and were pulling him back. Carlisle looked at the floor defeated. He didn't know what else to say to keep Aro from hurting me.

"Fine." he stated. "We'll be back at ten tomorrow night then."

"Jane will be waiting for you outside." Aro replied.

After one last look at me, Carlisle lead Esme back toward the tunnel that lead to the surface. Rose and Roxy had their arms around each other and from the looks of it the were crying vampire style.

"Bella, it's going to be okay!" Edward yelled as Emmett, Jasper, and Alice dragged him toward the tunnel. "I'll come back for you and make you safe! I love you! I won't let him hurt you anymore!"

His cries slowlt faded into the dark tunnel as I stared after him. I loved him for what I knew he was going to do. Yet, I wished they'd all just leave me and move on with the lives. They'd be a lot better off without me.

"Jane," Aro's voice brought me out of my pity party. "Take her back to the playroom. She needs a little reminder of who her masters are."

**A/N: What do you think? This chapter is going to be redone is Edward's P.O.V. I know you guys are probably confused about a lot of Edward's reactions. All will be explained next chapter. I promise. Anyone got any guesses who it's going to be? Alice, Jasper, Edward, or Roxy? Please review. I can't wait to hear your thoughts. **


	10. Keeping It Under Control

**EDWARD**

I was pretty angry that we couldn't get a flight to Italy until over twelve hours after Bella was kidnapped. Who knew what could've possibly happened to her in those twelve hours? I surpressed a shudder every time I thought about it. Alice must have known that I couldn't handle thinking about it and refrained from looking into Bella's future the entire flight. I was grateful for that. I was sure if I had to see it then I wouldn't have been able to keep my anger held inisde.

Thankfully, we arrived in Volterra a little over twenty four hours after Bella's kidnapping. I didn't think I could've handle much more waiting. We were all standing in an alley around the drain that would take us to the Volturi's home.

"What are we waiting for?" I growled staring around at the family. "We have to get down there now."

"We know, Edward." Carlisle stated calming. _"We need to talk about your temper first."_

"What about it?" I questioned.

"You need to be in complete control while we're down there." he said out loud. "It won't do Bella any good if you lose your temper and get yourself killed."

"I know that." I answered. "I'll keep it under control for her."

"All the same, Emmett, Jasper, I want you on either side of him the entire time." Carlisle replied. "If he tries to make a move, hold him back." I growled in Carlisle's direction. _"I'm sorry. None of us can be sure of the condition that she'll be in. If it's bad, you'll need the babysitters." _I nodded but glared at him all the same.

"Let's go." I said and was the first to slide down the drain.

I landed, on my feet, in the underground tunnel. The rest of my family slid down one by one seconds later. Once we were all done, I lead them off toward the reception area. I had only been to this place three times in this existence. Carlisle had brought me with him everytime he came to visit. I hated it as much in those times as I did now. I never understood why Carlisle stayed friends with them.

One would think after knowing how sick and sadistic they are, he'd have dropped them. But, no, he insisted that it would be in our best interest to stay close to them. So far in this situation, Aro had proved him wrong. Hopefully, by the time everything was over I'd be the one proven wrong. I hoped Carlisle would be able to talk Bella out of this situation. Somehow, I knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

When we reached the door to the reception room, Jasper and Emmett took there places beside me. I took a few unecessary breaths to keep myself calm. Carlisle was suddenly in front of me and he pushed the door open. I was surprised to find that the room was full of roughly thirty or so vampires. Usually, this part of their home was empty unless they were preparing a tour group for their meal or something.

Carlisle continued to walk into the room. From the sound of his thoughts, he hadn't expected anything less than this. Apparently, this was the Aro's entire guard. They obviously had expected trouble from us and were prepared to keep it from happening. Of course, he obviously had no idea what I was prepared to sacrifice for Bella. I was willing to die for her and I'd take as many of those bastards with me as possible.

We walked to the center of the room until we were face to face with Aro and his brothers. There was a young man around Bella's age standing in front of him. He had short bleach blonde hair. His eyes were a bright red but he looked so sad. I had a funny feeling that he didn't want to be here. When I tried to check if I was right, I couldn't get a read on any of his thoughts. I guessed shields were way more common than I thought.

"Carlisle, hello." Aro said pulling me away from my thoughts about the man. "And you brought the family, how wonderful. As you can see we've been expected you. I just didn't think it would be so soon. I'm grateful for young Damon, here. If it weren't for him, I would've been completely surprised by your arrival."

I was quite confused. How could a shield have seen us coming? They simply blocked other people's gifts. Or maybe he was like Kyle and had managed to steal someone else powers. I could hear my family trying very hard to work it out as well.

"Let me explain." Aro stated. "Damon is the newest edition to my guard and he has a very unique power. You see, he has what one could call a guardian angel. It manifests itself in certain forms that only he can see. It not only protects him but also keeps him informed of thing that could be of use to him. It told him about your arrival this evening. We've been preparing for the last few hours. Thank you Damon, you can take your place."

"Yes master." he replied. I could hear the anger and disgust dripping from his voice.

As he walked back to his place, he gave the family a very sincere aplogetic look. My heart went out to him as he slid into the gap into the line. I watched as he stared at the floor. I wanted so badly to know what he was thinking as he stood there. I could definitely hear Roxy trying not to think about how cute he was though. I shot her a look and she looked back to the floor a little embarassed. Aro's voice brought me back to reality.

"He has, of course, informed me of why you are here." he stated. "So let's just get right to business then, shall we? Gianna," he called. A middle aged human woman stepped out from behind a desk on the other side of the room.

"Yes, master?" she replied with a bow.

"Would you kindly inform Jane that we need her, Felix, and Demetri to bring me my pet. Let her know that pet's family is here." he told her.

I surpressed a grow at how he kept refering to my angel like some kind of an animal. She was the most wonderful and beautiful creature that I've ever met and did not deserve to be talked about in that manner.

"Of course, master." Gianna answered with another bow. She hurried across the room and out the door that was several feet away from Aro.

_"Jane isn't going to be happy about this." _Aro thought. _"She was looking forward to having a few hours of playtime." _

I forced back another growl as waves of calm hit me. I smiled at Jasper. My family knew me too well. He could tell how close I was coming to losing it before I could even knew anything. As much as I didn't want to be calm, I was grateful for it. I had to keep myself in check, for Bella's sake. Like Carlisle said, it wouldn't have done any good for us to die and leave Bella alone. I just hoped we could figure out what he wanted.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a read on him because he was very good at blocking me. In fact, he was currently reciting his alphabet in Greek, Russian, Italian, Arabic, and Latin. I allowed myself a mental growl but I didn't let it go any further than that. We waited in silence for the longest ten minutes of my life. When Gianna finally returned she bowed and said,

"Miss Jane will be here shortly. She just wanted to make sure that Master's pet was ready."

"Thank you Gianna." Aro replied. "Now would you please go back to your quarters? We need our privacy."

"Yes, master." Gianna said and once again exited through a different door.

We waited another few minutes before the door opened again. The family immediately looked towards it. Demetri, Felix, and Jane were standing in a row the blocked the entire doorway. Jane was holding some kind of chain in her hand. As they stepped through it, my mind was assaulted by some of the most horrific images imageable. Bella was lying on the floor being pummeled by the three of them. It took me a minute to realize that she was suffering in silence. I shook my head to try and push the images away.

As the three entered the room, it took me a minute to realize that there was someone crawling in behind them. That someone was connected to the chain that Jane was holding. Horror and anger seized my head and heart as I realized that someone was Bella. She was crawling on her hands and knees as slowly as possible. My heart gave a pang as she flinched with every other move.

Another image found it's way into my head. This one was of Bella screaming and crying as Jane beat her with a rawhide whip. I could hear the mental laughter as they passed mere inches from us. I also saw the still bleeding slashes on Bella's back. I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up into my arms and run away with her. However, I knew with the entire guard here, we wouldn't get that far. I didn't want to risk hurting Bella anymore than what she was.

When they finally made it to Aro, Jane handed the chain to him and she, Felix and Demetri took their places with the rest of the guard.

"We don't you stand up pet?" Aro said running his hands through her hair. I surpressed another growl. "Let your family get a good look at you."

I watched in horror as she stood up cringing with every move she made. The family stood there staring at her as she stared at us. She looked terrible. Her clothes barely covered any part of her body. And every exposed part was covered in deep purple and blue bruises. I wanted nothing more than to rip Aro's head from his body. How dare he hurt my sweet beautiful Bella like that? Thankfully, Emmett and Jasper were grasping my arms tightly and Roxy was standing behind me just in case I did something.

That's when a completely new set of images hit me. These were of Aro, Caius, and Marcus violating her in the worst possible ways. I could see they took great pleasure in listening to her beg for them to stop. How dare they? Then the clearest and most disgusting of all the images hit me. Caius was straddling Bella's chest with his dick in her mouth. She had tears rolling down her face as he forced her to suck him.

That was the final straw. I wouldn't let them do that to my angel ever again. I'd rip them apart myself if I had to. I let out a growl and attempted to launch myself at Aro. Emmett and Jasper pulled back on my arms hard and I felt Roxy's tiny arms wrap around my waist. She, like Alice, was so small it was hard to believe she was so strong. Yet, without her help, I knew I'd have been able to free myself of the other two. I stopped struggling as I caught site of the look she shot Jasper.

"You know Edward." Aro stated grabbing Bella by the hair. She flinched as he did so. "You really should learn to control your temper."

Aro used his hold on Bella's hair to make her face him then he forced his lips against hers. I heard her gasp of surprise. I let out another growl and struggled to free myself from my siblings. He couldn't get away with this. I had to teach him not to touch _**my**_ Bella like that. Jasper, Emmett, and Rosy, however refused to let me make the mistake of going after him.

_"I'm sorry, man." _Jasper thought. _"But you could get killed. Then what would happen to Bella?" _

I thought about that for a minute and took a couple of unecessary breaths to put myself back in control.

"Aro, can we please get to the point?" Carlisle asked once Aro released Bella. I could hear the disgust and anger in his voice. "I'm not sure how much longer my sons can hold Edward back. And I can assure you that, as angry as he is right now, he's liable to take out more than half your guard. I don't want to see that happen and I'm sure you don't either."

"Very well." Aro replied. "Sit pet."

I didn't know what Bella was thinking. She should've just done what he said. It would've been less painful for her. Then again, Bella had always been stuboorn as a mule. Which is probably why she remained standing.

"Pet," he said and grabbed her hair again. "Just because we have guests, doesn't mean the rules have changed. Now, I said sit."

He kicked the back of her legs. Her knees gave into the force and she crumpled. I heard her small whimper as her knee connected painfully with the floor. I let out another growl but knew it was better if I didn't try move. Once she revoered, she looked me directly in the eye. Even if I couldn't read her mind, I could see that she was silently begging me to stay calm. Just looking into her eyes was doing me a world of good. I found that I was able to take a few breaths and calm myself a little. I continued to stare into her eyes. It was the best way for me to push out the horrid thoughts of the brothers.

"Now," Carlisle continued. "We know that you want something from us. Or else you wanted have gone through all of this trouble to get Bella and lure us here. So why don't you just tell us what it is that you want. I can assure you that we'd give up everything for Bella's freedom."

I had a feeling it wasn't going to be that easy. He wasn't just going to take something from us and hand Bella over. I knew it was much bigger than that. I didn't know exactly what it was but I knew it was something that was going to be hard for us to give. We would do it, though, because Bella was more important to us than anything Aro could possibly want.

I tried to read his mind for the answer. However, all I got was more images of Bella being violated. I turned my attention back to Bella's eyes. I had to continue to stay calm. It was the only way to get Bella out of this.

"I'm afraid it isn't that easy, Carlisle." Aro replied. "You see, you have a very unique family with four very unique powers. Powers that I would love to see on my guard. One's that I would do anything to get. I'd love to have all four of them. However, considering that I only have one person to trade, I will except one of the four in exchange."

I felt like a truck had just hit me. He wanted Alice, Jasper, Roxy, or myself to join his guard. Why hadn't I thought of that sooner? It now seemed like the most obvious thing in the world. If I had known that was his plan I would've just handed myself over to Jane and the others when they came for Bella. All of this could've been avoid had I been a little quicker. I felt better to hear that the rest of the family hadn't seen it coming either.

"You want me to barter one of my children for another." Carlisle questioned.

"Don't do it, Carlisle!" Bella yelled.

"Silence pet!" Aro yelled and kicked her in the stomach.

She fell forward grasping her stomach. I wanted nothing more than to hurt Aro as I watched her gasping for the air she needed to survive. I struggled against Emmett, Roxy, and Jasper as hard as I could. They wouldn't let me go no matter how hard I fought. There was only one thing I could do at that moment. I wouldn't have asked any of me siblings to do it. I wasn't going to make them spend eternity in this hell because of me.

"I do it!" I said. "I'll join you. Just stop hurting her!"

"No, Edward you can't!" she pleaded.

"I said shut up!" Aro yelled and backhanded her.

She flew across the room and hit the floor hard. I couldn't hold it in any longer. He was going to pay for hurting my angel. I didn't care who I had to hurt to get to him. I was going to rip him apart. With one mighty pull, I finally wrenched myself free. I heard my family mentally begging for me to stop but I couldn't let go of the anger this time. Halfway through my lunge at Aro, I fell to the stone floor. Pain was shooting through every inch of my body but I didn't make a sound. I knew Jane was behind it and I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of a reaction.

"No! Edward! Leave him alone!" Bella cried.

I imagined that she was trying to crawl to me. I heard a small gag, then the sound of a body hitting the floor, and finally, Bella's cry of pain. Jane removed the power shortly after the time I had gotten back up, Bella was on her back a good twenty feet from me and Alice was by my side.

_"Let me do it, Edward." _Alice thought. _"We all know that I'm the one he wants most. Besides, Bella's going to need you when this is over." _

As much as I wanted to be there for Bella when it was all said and done, I couldn't let Alice or any of them to join this group of monsters. It wouldn't even be fair to ask them too. Especially since this whole Bella mess was my fault in the first place.

"No, Alice." I said. "This is my fault and I'm going to do it."

"No Edward." she pleaded. "It's mine, I should've just let you deal with her the way you wanted to."

I knew she was referring to how hard she pushed for me to act on my feelings for Bella. She was thinking about how selfish she had been wanting to be Bella's friend without thinking of the consquences the Bella would have to endure. I disareed with her completely. I should've just left Bella alone and everything would've been fine.

"Don't go there, Alice." Edward stated.

"Aro," Carlise stated cutting off our argument. "Could we please have some time to discuss this as a family?"

No, we didn't need to discuss anything. I was going to do this. End of story. Nobody else but me was going to take the fall for this one. I'd do it to save Bella. That's all there was to it. If the others didn't like it then oh well.

"Of course," Aro replied. "I'll give you twenty four hours. If you have not made a decision by then, I will be keeping my pet for as long as I like."

I knew that wasn't going to happen because whether or not we made a decision, I'd be handing myself over to him.

"Fine." Carlisle stated with disgust. "We'll get a hotel then and discuss it tonight. I would like to request, though, that you not harm Bella until we have made a decision."

"Unfortunately, Carlisle, I can't promise you that." Aro answered. "She hasn't be very well behaved this evening and she really needs to be punished."

The thoughts of how he planned to punish her suddenly assaulted my mind. They were much like the earlier images of Bella being violated only ten times worse.

"You keep your hands off of her you son of a-" I started to yell but Alice clamped her hand over my mouth. Aro just chuckled.

Emmett and Jasper had resumed their hold on me and were trying to get me to leave.

_"This is hard on all of us man." _Emmett thought. _"I wish we could just let loose on all of them. But there's no way. We'll just have to leave and figure out something later." _

I pushed his thoughts out of my head. I knew they were logical but I wasn't prepared to admit it. I needed to save Bella from them now. The family had no idea what they had done to her and were planning on doing the same things again.

"Fine." Carlisle stated. "We'll be back at ten tomorrow night then."

"Jane will be waiting for you outside." Aro replied.

After one last look at Bella, Carlisle lead Esme back toward the tunnel that lead to the surface. Rose and Roxy had their arms around each other and from the looks of it the were crying vampire style.

"Bella, it's going to be okay!" I yelled as Emmett, Jasper, and Alice dragged me toward the tunnel. "I'll come back for you and make you safe! I love you! I won't let him hurt you anymore!"

I continued to struggle and yell for Bella until about halfway through the tunnel. Jasper powers were having minimal effect and I ignored any soothing thoughts Alice tried to send me. They stil had Bella and were going to hurt her so more. How could I possibly be calm about that?

I finally realized, though, that my family wasn't going to let me go back so I composed myself enough to get out of the tunnel. Once we made it back to the alleyway, I collapsed to the ground and let the dry sobs wrack my body.

**A/N: I hope you understand things better after hearing it all from Edward. If not, message me and I'll try to explain better. Also, I'd like everyone to answer a question for me, Am I living up to the Cullens natural characters in a situation like this or are they acting to okay with what's happening? Don't worry your answers won't effect the story. I just want to make sure that I'm doing all of their cahracters justice. A couple quick things about Damon. 1.) No he was not some random vampire I pulled out of my ass. He will be important later, I promise. And 2.) The idea for his power isn't my orginal idea, I got it from sg-1's fic i escaped. I'm not sure of what she would call it but I tried to put my own twist on it. I hope I didn't cross too close to sg-1's territory. If I did sg-1 I greatly apologize. I didn't mean too. I just love the idea of this power. I guess that's it for the night. Please review or I'll send my flying monkeys to eat you in your sleep. LOL!**


	11. Decisions and Punishments

**A/N: So Bella's part of this chapter is another rape scene. This one isn't quite as bad as the first but it's still a bit graphic. If you choose not to read it, I understand. You will not miss anything major in the plot. I promise. However, there is an Edward part of the chapter so you should scroll down until you see his name. That part isn't bad at all. Also, I'm putting something in this chapter that is complimants of The VampiricAngel who has so kindly given me permission to use these ideas. However, when she wrote it in her fic, Bella was a vampire but for mine she is still a human. I'm not positive if the same rules apply. However, I've asked around to see if it was possible for it to be done to a human and I got conflicting answers. I'm going to assume that it is possible but highly unpleasant for the female. If I'm inaccurate please just stretch your imagination a little please. (Beliee you'll know what part I'm talking about when we get there.) I think that's it for tonight. Remember if you don't want the rape then skip Bella's part. **

**BELLA**

I fought as hard as I could as Jane tried to drag me back to the playroom. I continued the fight even when my body began to throb from the pain of it all. However, my mere human strength was no match for Jane's vampiric strength. She would've been able to beat me even if I was up to my full strength.

So I was once again completely naked and chained to the metal table. My body was in the exact same position it was in that morning. My back was stinging terribly from the open slashes making contact with the cold metal table. I, however, did not do anything to indicate that I was in pain. I wasn't going to give them that satisfaction this time. I made the mistake the first time but I was prepared to make sure I didn't repeat it.

Aro was standing beside me. He face was right above mine and he was wearing a sick and twisted smile. I had a feeling that tonight was going to be so much worse than before.

"So pet." Aro said. "I am very displeased by your performance this evening. You embarrassed myself and my brothers in front of our guests as well as the entire guard."

"So?" I prompted with slight sarcasm. I really wasn't sure why I was fueling the fire. It just seemed like the thing to do.

Aro backhanded me. It wasn't hard enough to do any damage but it did connect with the table, rather painfully.

"So, how can I expect my guard to obey me when my own pet won't?" he growled.

"Sounds like a personal problem to me." I replied. Why the hell did I say that? Was I trying to make the situation worse?

I cringed just waiting for some kind of punishment. Aro simply chuckled.

"I guess you really do need another lesson in respect, don't you? Don't worry, you're going to be the model pet by the time I'm finished with you." he stated stroking my cheek.

"Don't touch me!" I spat turning my head away from him.

He grabbed my chin and forced me to look back at him. His sadistic smirk was ever present.

"Did you forget that you belong to me now?" he questioned. "I can touch you whenever, wherever and however I please."

As if to prove his point, he cupped my left breast in his hand and squeezed it hard. It really hurt but I had already promised myself that I wouldn't react. I wasn't going to give them that satisfaction. He simply laughed and released my breast.

"Don't worry, my dear." he stated brushing hair out of my face. "You'll be screaming by the time we're finished tonight. I promise." He then turned to face the others. "Boys, you'll be happy to know that, due to her lack of respect, there will be no restrictions tonight. We could do as much as we want with however many we want. Just make sure you don't kill her."

Both Caius and Marcus's faces lit up when he said this. I gulped, suddenly afraid of what was about to happen. Aro removed his clothes and walked down my body until he was between my legs. He rammed the four fingers of his right hand into me. He was using a lot more force than he had earlier and it hurt quite a bit more. I, however, was holding my own very well. I hadn't yet let out a scream even though silent tears were rolling down my cheeks. I knew from the beginning though that it would be impossible not to cry.

Aro simply laughed at my lack of a reaction. That's when it all went to pieces. Very slowly, he slid the four fingers of his left hand inside me as well. I couldn't hold back my screams any longer. I felt him tearing me apart with every push. The others simply stood in the corner laughing at my screams. Aro was laughing as well as I felt the blood flowing out of me. I was begging for him to just fuck me and get it over with. Anything was better than this torture.

Caius must've gotten sick of my screams because, before I knew it, he was naked and on top of me again. He wasted no time in shoving his cock back into my mouth. He ordered me to suck it again. Caius was the one who scared me the most of the three. I didn't think I'd ever dare to disobey a direct order from him. Yet, I found it terribly difficult to ignore what Aro was doing down below to focus on what Caius wanted. I did the best I could but I could feel Caius getting angrier and angrier as he continued to push himself in and out of my mouth.

Finally, Aro removed his fingers. I could only feel the remnants of the pain from his fingers for a few seconds. I couldn't see but I was sure that Aro was licking the blood off of his fingers. When he finally pushed himself inside me, it didn't hurt to bad because his fingers had really stretched me out. I would've been relieved if Caius's cock wasn't gagging me once again.

Caius pulled out before his release. This confused me a lot but I didn't ask questions. I was just glad he wasn't going to make me swallow it again. However, by the look on his face, I knew he wasn't finished. He slowly crawled off of me and went to join Aro between my legs.

My heart started hammering in my chest. I had read about what he was going to do in a magazine somewhere. People had claimed that it was possible but I didn't believe it. I did find myself wondering from time to time though. But I didn't want to find out like this.

"Please, don't!" I screamed.

I didn't need to get ripped apart anymore tonight. I didn't know how much more my body could handle. Caius pushed my legs further apart and shoved himself in next to Aro. My screams intensified. I could hear Marcus laughing from behind me. He seemed to take more pleasure in watching my pain than causing it.

I could feel the two brothers ripping me apart even more as I felt the blood pouring out. I screamed and begged for them to stop. All three of them just laughed and Aro and Caius continued. Marcus must've finally got sick of hearing my screams because he shoved a ball gag in my mouth and fastened it around my head.

It really wasn't necessary because less than a minute later, the pain and blood lose finally plunged me into darkness.

**EDWARD**

It took nearly an hour for my family to calm me down enough to get me to move. We spent the next hour checking and moving into a hotel room. I thought the whole thing was quite pointless really. We were getting together to discuss something that had already been decided. I was going to be the one to hand myself over to them. No one else. I wasn't going to ask them to give their lives up for something that was completely my fault. I didn't care what anyone else thought. I was going to do this my way and if they didn't like it, well that was just too damn bad.

We were now sitting in the hotel room, everyone wanted to say something but no one knew where to begin. Rosalie and Emmett were sitting on the bed. Rosalie was curled into Emmett's chest and his arms were around her. I was very grateful that the two of them didn't have to make the choice. I didn't think they could've existed without each other. Emmett kept Rosalie grounded. And Emmett wasn't really Emmett unless Rose was there. I couldn't have asked them to give that up. Jasper and Alice were the same way.

They were sitting in the armchair. Alice in Jasper's lap with his arms around her. Jasper was thinking about how badly he wanted to save Bella. Yet, he didn't think that he could give Alice up for Bella. I understood that completely and would never even ask him to do it. Alice thoughts were along the same lines as Jasper's but she was willing to do it if it was the only way to save Bella. I was grateful to her for that but could never ask it of her. She loved Jasper as much as I loved Bella. I couldn't take her away from him.

Roxy was sitting in the corner by the door with her head in her hands. She was thinking that it should be her because she was the newest to the family. She was also the only one who didn't have anything to lose. She just wasn't sure how she should put all that into words. It didn't matter because I wasn't going to let her do it either. After all the pain she's gone through in her life, she didn't deserve to have to spend eternity with those monsters. Even if she'd be considered an equal.

Esme and Carlisle were on the other bed. Esme was sitting next to Carlise with her hand in his and her head on his shoulder. They thoughts were very depressing and hopeless. They wanted Bella back and safe, as much as any of us did but they had no idea how to do it without losing another child.

I couldn't take anymore of this.

"Would everyone please stop trying to figure who's going to join the guard or make a case for yourself?" I stated moving away from the vanity I was leaning against. "Because it's going to be me and that's the end of the story. We are in this position because of me so I'm going to take the fall for everyone."

'But Edward," Alice stated. "I was the one who pushed you into acting on your feelings for Bella. I was so selfish in wanting to be her friend that I didn't think about the consquences."

"No, Alice." I countered. "I could've chose to ignore you and her and kept running but I didn't. I gave into myself and confirmed everything that she figured out about us. I should've just kept denying what I was and how I felt about her. So it's my fault."

"We all had a part to play in this, Edward." Jasper stated. "We didn't try and stop you once we realized your feelings weren't going to go away. we could've fought you on bringing her into our lives and revealing all of our secrets. But we were all more than happy to make room for her. I think we were all so excited to have some for our human selves back because Bella brought out a lot more human in all of us. And we didn't think about what could possibly happen so it's really everyone's fault."

"But I brought her into our world." I argued. "You guys were just trying to help me be happy. Besides, you all have to much to lose and I won't let you lose it. No matter what I have to do."

"But Edward," Roxy said. "You have something to lose too. You could lose Bella. Do you think she wants to be free without you? Let me do it. I'm the newest in the family. And I've brought nothing but trouble. If it wasn't for me, Kyle woudn't have been in Forks and the Volturi would've never found out about Bella."

"That's not true!" I protested. "Kyle would've shown up in Forks regardless of whether or not you were there. But we saved her because you were were able to help us get the information that we needed about him. So don't even think about putting it on yourself."

"But that doesn't change the fact that I have nothing to lose." she countered. "I don't even have a mate."

"Yes, but you're finally completely free of Kyle. I won't let anyone take that away from you again." Edward protested. "You deserve so much better than an eternity of taking orders from sadistic bastards who deserve to die."

"STOP IT!" Esme yelled getting off the bed. It was the first time in all my years with her that I've seen her this upset. "We need to stop fighting about this. Edward, whatever you may think, none of this is your fault. Like Jasper said, we all had our parts to play that lead to this. It was all supposed to come down to this. I don't know why but it's supposed to be this way. Besides, Edward, even with everything that's happened, I know that Bella would not have it any other way. She'd take everything that's happened with James, Jacob, Kyle and even what's happening now with a smile because in the end she still had you. You were both goners the minute you realized you were in love, though. Because the heart wants what it wants. There would've been no escaping it. If the two of you kept running from it, it would've tore you apart inside. You'd be nothing but empty shells by now. And that's something that I wouldn't have wanted to see. My point is, though, I understand the decision you have made and, even though, it's killing me, I support it. I just don't want you doing this as a way to punish yourself. Because you've done nothing wrong. You just followed your heart and that's the best any of us can do. I just want you to know that none of this is your fault. It just is. You have to accept that. I'm proud of everything you've ever done involving Bella and I will do everything in my power to make sure that she is taken care of when it's all over."

"Thank you, Esme." I stated and wrapped my arms around her.

I could hear the thoughts of my family running along the same lines. I was glad they finally accepted what I wanted to do. I had to save her for good this time and though I knew it wasn't going to be easy, I do it for her. I was grateful that they'd stopped fighting me. They all wished that I would change my mind, of course but that's what family did. However, they didn't say it.

"So let's go?" I said. "There's no point in her being there any longer than she has to be."

"We can't go now." Carlisle stated.

"Why not?" I questioned.

"Because, Aro said twenty four hours and that's what he wants." Carlisle explained. "You see, Aro likes to be in control of everything. If he says something then that's the way it's gotta be. Even if we did show up there before ten o'clock tomorrow night, he wouldn't see us. Because that would mean he didn't have control over his "subjects."

"So what, we're just supposed to sit here and let her suffer some more." I growled.

"I;m sorry, Edward." Carlisle stated. "I hated as much as you do but going early isn't going to do her any good. Aro would probably hurt her worse if we did. Jusy to prove what happens when he doesn't get what he wants."

"But you have no idea what they've done to her. What their doing to her now." I pleaded.

"Edward, I've lived with them for a few years. I have a pretty decent idea of what they're like." he stated. "But it won't help to go before Aro wants us. I'm sorry. But staring here and doing this they way Aro wants in what's best for Bella. So please, just relax?"

I let out a low growl but sank to the floor in defeat. I put my head in my hands feeling untterly useless. What good was having a plan if I couldn't save her? Why did Aro care what time he got me so long as he got me? After a minute or two, I felt Alice's hand on my shoulder and heard her thought,

_"Are you sure you want to do this?" _

"Yes." I replied quietly.

"You know it'll destroy Bella, right?" she asked.

"I know but she's a strong girl. If anyone can make it through something like this, she can." I answered. "Especially if she has you. You'll help her, won't you?"

"Of course, I will." Alice replied. "She my sister, I won't let her fall."

"Thank you." I stated. We sat in silence for a few minutes as we all rolled the situation over in our minds. "Alice, I need you to promise me a few things."

"Anything." she answered.

'First, I need you to promise that no matter what Bella says or does, you will not change her." I stated. "She doesn't deserve this life especially if I'm not going to be in it with her. She deserve to be happy and finally have a normal human life."

"I promise that I won't change her. And that I'll do everything in my power to let her have a normal human life." Alice pledged. I smiled at her.

"I also need you to make sure that she stays safe and happy. Even if it means sending her to Jacksonville with Renee and Phil."

"I can't promise that one but I will do everything in my power to make it happen."

"I know you will."

We lapsed into silence again. I tried to block out the sad thoughts of the family as we sat there. Finally, Alice spoke again,

"I'll miss you. You're the best big brother a person could ask for."

"I'll miss you too, Al. But I won't be gone forever. I'll find a way out. No matter how long it takes."

"I love you so much."

"I love you too, little sis."

We hugged for a long time. I spent the next few hours saying goodbye to my family. I knew it was going to be hard enough for me to say goodbye to Bella later and didn't want to make it any harder on myself. It was one of the most difficult things that I've ever had to do but I knew it was for the best. Bella needed me but the family didn't.

Once I had finished my goodbyes, we sat in silence for a few more hours. I, however, couldn't bear hearing the families' depressed and sympathetic thoughts, so I left. I spent the rest of the day wondering the dark alleys of Volterra trying to make sense of what I was about to do.

**A/N: Remember my flying monkeys and click the pretty review box. I can't wait to hear what all of you think of this one. I hope you liked. **


	12. Goodbye

**A/N: This is probably going to be the hardest and saddest chapter I've ever written. I would advise having a box of tissues at the ready if you are a cryer. They'll probably come in handy. I ask that you please not be angry with me after this part. Just remember as your reading, it's not over yet. Far from it, in fact. I promise everyone will get their happy endings. Unforunately, they all have to go through some of the worst possible shit first. But it'll work out in the end. I promise. So here we go. **

**BELLA**

I woke up, "fully clothed", in my room unsure of what happened. It wasn't until I became aware of the throbbing pain and inability to move the lower half of my body that I remembered. As the memories of what happened came flooding back, my stomach churned and I found myself leaning over my toilet. I realized after a minute that I was only dry heaving. Having had nothing to eat in around forty eight hours meant that there was nothing in my stomach to force out. Eventually, my heaves turned into sobs as I lowered myself back to my mattress. I slowly and painfully dragged my knees to my chest and sobbed into them. 

I found myself thinking about my life as I cried. I breifly wondered if, after knowing what life with Edward would give me, I would change any of the decisions I made involving him. I didn't have to ponder it for long because the answer was no. I loved Edward and all of the Cullens with my whole heart and soul. I couldn't imagine what my life would be like if I had just walked away when Edward ask me to. He told me over and over that it was dangerous to be his friend but I didn't listen. And I didn't regret that decision for a minute.

Sure if I had never gotten close Edward or the Cullens, I'd probably be safe at home in my own bed right now. I wouldn't be wondering what was going to happen to me next. Or be fearing for my life. Or, worse yet, wondering if one of them was really going to give up everything just to save me. I hoped that wasn't the case. Even through all of that, I didn't regret choosing to be with Edward. I loved him so much. He made my world a brighter and happier place. He helped me see the real me. He's the reason that I kept on fighting every sadistic vampire that came after. He was the reason that I wasn't going to let Aro bring me down that easily. He helped me to keep going with my life, even after Charlie's death. I needed him in my life to do those things for me. He loved me and I loved him and that's all that mattered.

The sound of the door opening pulled me out of my thoughts and caused me to look up. Jane was standing in the doorway with another of her sadistic smiles plastered across her face. My heart rate sped up a little as she approached me.

"Don't worry, human." she said with a laugh as she stroked my check. "Aro just wants me to get you cleaned up and ready for your family. They'll be here in a couple hours."

She then moved undo my leash from its hook. My mind was spinning. I wasn't sure how I felt about my family coming back. I was mostly upset by the fact that they were coming back. I wished they would've just got back on a plane to Forks and forgot about me. I hoped they were just coming to tell Aro that they couldn't make a decision and that he could keep me. I didn't want any of them to have to sacrifice everything for me. I knew in my heart, though, that this wasn't the case.

I knew by the time this night was over, I'd be on a plane back to Forks and either my brother, one of my sisters, or the love of my life would remain here in my place. They'd have to spend enternity doing God only knew what to inoccent humans and vampires alike, just to keep me safe. A selfish part of me was elated by the thought of this. That same part of me prayed it wasn't going to be Edward. Did that make me a bad person?

I tried to push those thoughts away. I knew it wasn't right to ask them to give up everything for me. I didn't want them to anyway. They deserve so much better than having to live a life that would make them hate themselves. Jasper was already having a hard time getting over whatever it was that happened to him. He didn't the kinds of thing that Aro would make him do to make things worse.

I sighed deeply as Jane started tugging on the leash. As slowly as I could manage with Jane leading me, I began to crawl. She lead me down the hallway to the same bathroom as before. She undressed me and placed me, unceremoniously, into the bath tub. She then put the plug in the drain and turned on just the hot water. I cringed as the searing water toched the cuts and scraps on my body. She laughed as I tried to avoid it for as long as possible. I let out a few smal cries as it hit the whip marks on my back.

Once the tub was completely filled with the water, she allowed herself sometime to play. She shoved my whole head into the water and held it there for a few minutes. I struggled against her as I fought to keep the water from filling my lungs. The heat wasn't quite that bad when you were struggling for your life. She finally let me up and laughed as I gasped to get my air back.

"Stupid human." she muttered.

She then began to scrub my body just as hard as she had the first time. It hurt a lot worse than the first time because I had more cuts and bruises. She didn't seem to care about bothering any of them. In fact, I had a feeling she was hitting some of the more painful ones on person. When she reached down to clean in between my legs, she forced my legs as far apart as the tub would allow. Granted, the tub wasn't very big, but after what I had shoved inside me only a few short hours ago, it was rather painful.

When she finally finished my body, she moved to my hair. She dug her nails into my scalp as she rubbed in the shampoo and conditioner. I could feel the blood seeping out as she did this. She simply laughed everytime I made any indication that it hurt.

When she was finally finished, the tub had cooled down to a bearable temperature. I silently laughed at the irony. She made me get out and dried me off with the same amount of force that she washed me with. My skin was still red from the water and the scrubbing. The was a new pile of clothes sitting on the floor beside me.

"Put those on." Jane ordered once she finshed drying me off.

I did as I was told. The outfit surprised me. It was a black hoodie with a few holes but not enough to notice and a pair of gray sweatpants in roughly the same condition. I shot Jane a questioningly look knowing i get in trouble if I asked her outright.

"Aro wants you to be prepared in case your family meets his demand." she explained. "He wants them to be able to take you out of here without peaking the other humans' curiousity. If they are able to see your injuries then questioned would be asked and investigations would be done. And as much fun as that kind of damage control would be, it just isn't worth all the trouble."

Well, it was nice to know that I wouldn't have to make anything up. I was, however, still praying that I wouldn't be leaving. The Cullens shouldn't have to give up this much for me. I hoped they felt the same way.

Once I was dressed, Jane lead me back to my room and made me sit in front of her. She combed out my hair, not too gently, and put it into an uncomfortably tight french braid. I cringed everytime she pulled more hair into the braid.

She made me stand up when she finished. Then she inspected my body to make sure that that there weren't any cuts and bruises showing.

"You have a bruise on your right cheek." she stated. "If anyone asks, you got into a fist fight. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Miss Jane." I answered with my eyes on the floor.

"Good, now I have to go to meet your family." she informed me. "Aro will send someone in when they're ready for you."

She wrapped my leash back around the hook and left slamming the door.

**TWENTY MINUTES LATER.......**

The door opened and in stepped a member of the guard that I hadn't yet had the pleasure of meeting. He looked about my age but I knew that didn't mean anything in vampire years. He could've been over three thousand years old for all I knew. He had short bleach blonde hair and bright red eyes. Somehow, I knew I didn't have to be afraid of him. I wasn't sure where the feeling came from but I trusted him.

"Aro is ready for you." he said. I noticed that he said Aro's name with nothing but hatred. He pulled my leash of the hook then walked back to me. "You're in no condition to have to crawl all the way down the hall. Stand up."

He held his hand out to me and I took it. He helped me to get off the floor slowly and less painfully. Then he pulled my arm around his shoulder and supported me out of the room. I was surprised by this but wasn't sure if I'd be permitted to speak.

"My name's Damon, by the way." he said. "You don't have to be afraid of me. Your name's Bella, right?"

"Yes." I responded as we made our way down the hall. "Can I ask you something?" I added a minute later unsure if he'd allow me to speak me mind.

"Of course." he replied.

"Why aren't you treating me like the others do?"

"Because, you don't deserve to be treated that way." he stated. "You haven't done anything wrong."

I nodded.

"There's some things you should know before you go in there." he stated after a minute of silence. "I have a very special gift. I can see things. Not like your friend Alice but it's difficult to explain. I suppose one could say, I have imaginary friends who keep me informed of important things. And they've told me that you aren't going to like what's about to happen. But you need to understand that it's for the best. Besides, from what I've been told, it'll all work out in the end. You just have to hold on."

"I don't understand." I stated. I really had no idea what he was talking about.

"There isn't time for details. Just remember to keep holding on and everything will work out." he answered. We were now about one hundred and fifty or so feet from the door. "Unfortunately, I have to make you get on your hands and knees now. We'll both get in trouble if we walk in like this."

I nodded and he helped lower me to the ground. We walked the rest of the hall in silence. I spent the time trying to make sense of what he just said to me. I kept coming up blank. The only thing I knew was that one of the family had decided to do what Aro wanted. I knew because that's the only thing that could've happened that I wouldn't like. I just prayed that it wasn't Edward.

Damon pushed the door opened and I looked around as we walked through. The walls were once again lined with the guard and my family stood in the middle of the room. They looked as sad and angry as they did before. I noticed that, though Jasper and Emmett were beside Edward, they were not holding him back. I didn't know if I should think of this as a good sign or a bad one.

When Damon reached Aro, he handed the chain over and proceeded to his place in line. I noticed that he shared a significant glance with Edward who nodded. I wasn't exactly sure what it meant but Edward seemed grateful for something.

"Sit pet." Aro stated. I pushed myself onto my knees without any fuss this time. I didn't want to make the situation any harder than it had to be. "Good girl." he patted my head and I cringed. "Carlisle, has your family made a decision?"

Carlisle took a deep unecessary breath and closed his eyes. I didn't think he could quite form the words so he simply nodded. My heart began to race as I stared intently at my family.

"And?" Aro pressed.

"It's going to be me." Edward's voice rang out through the hall.

"No, Edward! You can't!" I yelled not caring what Aro would do.

He simply laughed.

"I have to, Bella." he stated staring at me. "I do, however, have a few requests, Aro."

"I'm listening." Aro replied.

I was too shocked to say anything else at that moment.

"I wish to remain on the animal diet." he said.

"I'm sure Heidi will be able to arrange that. Of course, it may be difficult to find you something as often as we feed." Aro stated.

"I'm perfectly capable of finding my own food." he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Of course. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, I want your word that you will not go after Bella again after this. I don't care if she tells the whole world we exist. Because if you or your brothers or your guard lay a hand on her again, after this moment, I will leave and take out as many of you as I possibly can."

"Very well." Aro replied but I could hear the uncertainly in his voice. "I swear that Isabella Swan will never again be harmed by myself, my brothers, or my guard."

"Good." Edward stated. "Finally, I want a some time to say goodbye."

"Of course," Aro replied. "I'm not totally heartless. I'll give you ten minutes."

Ten minutes. That was not long enough to say goodbye to the love of my life. Especially when I didn't want to let him go. Aro stepped in front of me and reached around my neck. I was relieved when he pulled the clamp off.

"It was fun while it lasted pet." he whispered before stepping away. "Now go."

I stood up cringing through the pain and started to run toward Edward. He met me halfway and through his arms around me.

"Please don't do this." I begged as the tears began to pour.

"I have to, love." he said. "I love you too much to let you suffer like that."

"But I'm going to suffer worse without you." I pleaded.

"You will at first but then you'll move on." he whispered. "You're human it's what you do."

"But-But-But..." I started unable to grasp my thoughts. He pulled my away from him.

"Listen to me baby. I love you so much and what you to be happy. That's why I have to do this. Do you understand?" I nodded. "I know it's going to be hard but you have to keep going for me. I won't let them hurt you anymore, I swear but you can't let yourself be consumed by this lose. That's not why I'm doing this. I want you to be able to live a full human life. I want you to find a human who will make you happy. Someone to give you children and grnadchildren. So who can make you as happy as I did."

"But there's no one like that out there for me." I pleaded. "You're the only one I want those things with."

"There is that person out there for you. I can guaruntee you that." he countered. "There's someone out there who would've been yours if my kind didn't exist. He's still out there looking for you. I want you to try to forget me and find him."

"No!" I yelled. "I DON'T WANT ANYONE BUT YOU!"

The tears were now coming in uncontrollable quantities. He pulled me close to him as I broke down.

"I know, love, I know." He said his voice cracking as he gently rubbed my back. "Everything will be alright I promise."

"No, it won't." I cried.

"Eventually it will." he said then pulled away slightly. "Emmett, will you come take her please?"

"No!" I yelled and wrapped my arms tighter around Edward.

I felt Emmett cold arms wrap around me as I clung to Edward. Edward reached up his arms and pried my hands from his neck.

"I love you, my angel." he stated as Emmett pulled me away. "I'll never forget you."

"No, Edward, please!" I yelled struggling against Emmett. "I love you! Don't do this!"

"Jasper, a little help please?" Emmett said after a minute of my struggling.

I felt waves of calm intruding on my sadness and rage. I tried to fight both the waves as well as Emmett but I wasn't getting anywhere with either.

"Carlisle, please check her out the minute you guys get out of here?"

That was the last thing I heard my Greek God say before I finally gave into the wonderful peace of sleep that Jasper was offering me.

**A/N: Well, what did you guys think of this one? I hope it was just emotional enough. I'm debating about whether or not to do it from Edward's P.O.V. I wanna here what you guys think about that idea. Remember my flying monkeys and click the pretty box. I can't wait to hear what you guys think. **


	13. I Will Be

**A/N: This is the last chapter from Edward's P.O.V. I want to make a small note on Damon's gift. It is very difficult to understand at the moment. I'm sorry about that, he was kind of an impromptu character and I'm still trying to work him out. You'll get his full story in the next couple chapters. I promise. I hope you enjoy this one. **

**EDWARD**

I found myself standing over the drain in the dark alley at nine forty-five that night. I spent the whole day contemplating what was about to happen and everything that got us to this point.

I knew deep down that Esme was right and nobody was to balme for any of this. Unfortunately, I couldn't get over the thought that it was my love for Bella that got us here. It was like one of this things you knew wasn't true but all the evidence pointed in that direction. So you had no choice but to believe it. I was convinced that if I hadn't fallen in love with Bella then we wouldn't be here now.

I knew, however, that she didn't regret any of the choices she made involving me and our family. She had every opportunity to walk away in the beginning. Hell, she could've even walked away in the middle if she chose to. Still even after all of the pain she had gone through with the sadistic vampires and the hormonal teenaged werewolf. And even us leaving her. She wouldn't have wanted to do anything differently. She loved me and in her mind nothing else mattered.

I loved her too. To be honest, I didn't regret anything that happened between us in the time we knew each other either. Granted, I wished she wouldn't have had to go through so much pain for our love but I suppose the pain was something that couldn't be avoided.

I would make sure, though, that after tonight she wouldn't be in pain anymore. I'd do everything Aro asked of me, short of killing or harming a human, to save her from that torture. If he wanted me to get on my hands and knees and kiss his feet in front of everyone, I'd do it. Bella deserved nothing less that a normal and safe human life. One free from this kind of pain. I'd make sure she was able to get it. I knew that she'd hate it at first but it would get better. If anyone could get through this it was her.

_"Edward, are you here?" _Alice's thoughts intruded on mine.

"Yeah." I replied softly.

"He's here." Alice said in a soft yell.

The relieved thoughts of my family suddenly washed over me as they appeared around me. Esme walked right up to me and threw her arms around me.

_"We were so worried about you!" _she mentally yelled.

"I'm sorry." I told her. "I just needed to clear my head."

"That's understandable." she stated then thought, _"You don't have to do this, you know?"_

"Yes, I do, mom." I stated. "I have to save her and I could never ask my siblings to give up this much for her. Even though, I know they'd all be more than willing."

"Of course." she replied and pulled me into another hug.

_"I love you." _she thought.

"I love you too but I can't do this again." I stated. "It's going to be hard enough to say goodbye to Bella in a few minutes. I won't be able to if I have to do it all over again with you guys."

"Right sorry." Esme sighed.

I could see the need to cry in her eyes. This was one of those times I cursed what we were. She should be able to openly sob at the prospect of losing a son. All she could do was dry heave and that didn't help anything.

Suddenly, images assaulted my mind. These were much worse than the ones that I saw last night. Bella was once again being violated by the brothers. Caius was once again on top of her forcing himself into her mouth. Aro was tearing into her vagina with both hands. I let out a low growl then stated,

"Show yourself Jane."

Jane appeared from the other end of the alley. She was wearing her sadistic smile as she walked towards us. The images continued as she came closer. Aro had removed his fingers and was no shoving his dick inside of her. Then Caius removed his from her mouth and moved until he was next to Aro. He too rammed into her. Bella's screams resounded in my ears and I let out another growl.

"Look, Jane, the guard isn't here and you're out numbered. If you were smart, you'd knock it off." I stated.

Jane simply laughed.

"Do you really think that Aro would hold up his end of the bargain if you killed me?" she questioned rhetorically. "Especially since I'm one of his favorites. He'd probably kill your little human to avenge me."

The images continued as she rememebered how they pounded into Bella long after she fell unconcious. I growled again and lunged for her. Emmett caught me around the middle and dragged me back. Jane let out a small giggle.

"Shall we go now?" she asked.

The family nodded and we took turns jumping down the drain. When we reached the bottom, Jane sent another image my way. This time she remembered how the brothers licked her cleaned once they finished. I made another lunge for her but Emmett caught me again.

_"Edward, calm down." _Jasper thought. _"Who knows what'll happen if you kill Jane before we get to Bella. Just remember, her sufferings going to end tonight because of you." _

He was right. I took a few deep breaths and placed myself back in control. The images continued as Jane led us through the tunnel. She had moved on to the painful bath she had the "pleasure" of giving Bella. The thoughts of Bella in pain still irked me but at least I no longer had to see her being violated.

We finally made it to the reception room. When we stepped inside, I noticed the walls were once again lined with memebers of the guard. Aro and his brothers were standing at the front of the room, just like the were yesterday. Jane led us to the center of the room then walked to her spot in the line.

"Carlisle, I'm glad to see you came back." Aro greeted. "I've already sent young Damon to fetch pet. Unfortunately, after last night, she isn't moving very fast." I growled as more images of last night hit me. "They should be here shortly though."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a door to the far right of the room opened. Damon stepped through it with Bella crawling behind him. My heart went out to her when I saw how much pain the movement was causing her. Damon seemed to be walking as slowly as he could to ease as much pain as possible. I was grateful to him for this. I was also grateful to see that Aro had put proper clothes on her. They were probably to hide her scars from the other humans as she left.

Damon led Bella to Aro and handed him the chain. As he walked back to his spot, his eyes locked with mine and I could hear his thoughts clearer than anyone else's in the room.

_"She's going to be alright in the end. You and I, however, should talk about somethings later." _

I didn't understand anything that was implicated in those thoughts. Nor did I understand how I couldn't read him yesterday but he was loud and clear today. Yet, something was telling I could trust him. I had a feeling he'd probably be my only friend for the next century or so. Which is why I nodded to him acknowledging that I felt the same way.

"Sit pet." Aro's words brought me back to the situation. I looked over at Bella who pushed herself back on her knees without a fuss. I was grateful she didn't give him a reason to hurt her. "Good girl." he patted her head and she cringed. "Carlisle, has your family made a decision?"

I could hear how badly Carlisle didn't want to say it. In fact, he couldn't force his brain to make his mouth open. Instead he, took a deep unecessary breath, closed his eyes and nodded. I heard Bella's heart rate pick up as she stared at us. I could see terror and sadness in her beautiful brown eyes. I hated myself for having to do this to her.

"And?" Aro pressed.

"It's going to be me." I stated.

"No, Edward! You can't!" she yelled. I hoped Aro would let that one go.

He simply laughed.

"I have to, Bella." I stated staring at her. "I do, however, have a few requests, Aro."

"I'm listening." Aro replied.

Bella didn't say anything else for a moment. I had a feeling might go into shock soon.

"I wish to remain on the animal diet." I said.

"I'm sure Heidi will be able to arrange that. Of course, it may be difficult to find you something as often as we feed." Aro stated.

Who did he think I was? Some pampered prince. I have been hunting for and killing my own food for a century. I didn't need someone else to do it for me.

"I'm perfectly capable of finding my own food." I stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Of course. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, I want your word that you will not go after Bella again after this. I don't care if she tells the whole world we exist. Because if you or your brothers or your guard lay a hand on her again, after this moment, I will leave and take out as many of you as I possibly can."

I knew that his word wouldn't mean much. Still, I hoped my threat would make him think twice before he tried it.

"Very well." Aro replied but I could hear the uncertainly in his voice. "I swear that Isabella Swan will never again be harmed by myself, my brothers, or my guard."

"Good." I stated. "Finally, I want a some time to say goodbye."

"Of course," Aro replied. "I'm not totally heartless. I'll give you ten minutes."

Ten minutes. That was not long enough to say goodbye to the love of my life. Especially when I didn't want to let her go. Still, I knew it was more than I was expecting. I had been worried that he was going to deny the request. I watched as he reached around her neack to pull off the manacle and chain.

"It was fun while it lasted pet." he whispered before stepping away. "Now go."

She cringed as she stood up and started to run toward me. I met her halfway and threw my arms around her.

"Please don't do this." she begged as her tears began to pour.

Why did she have to do this? Why couldn't she just accept it and walk away? Because that wasn't like Bella. I knew she'd more than happily stay here if it meant that I would be free from them.

"I have to, love." I insisted. "I love you too much to let you suffer like that."

"But I'm going to suffer worse without you." she pleaded.

I knew this statement was true. I did have an arguement for it though. I was just finding it hard to say the words.

"You will at first but then you'll move on." I whispered. "You're human it's what you do."

"But-But-But..." she started clearly to upset to arrange a coherrent thought. I pulled her away from me.

"Listen to me baby. I love you so much and what you to be happy. That's why I have to do this. Do you understand?" she nodded. "I know it's going to be hard but you have to keep going for me. I won't let them hurt you anymore, I swear but you can't let yourself be consumed by this lose. That's not why I'm doing this. I want you to be able to live a full human life. I want you to find a human who will make you happy. Someone to give you children and grnadchildren. So who can make you as happy as I did."

"But there's no one like that out there for me." I pleaded. "You're the only one I want those things with."

This wasn't going at all the way I hoped. I was praying that she'd be angry with me for trying to leave her again. Yet, here she was trying to shoot down every one of my reasons for doing this. I had to make her understand. If I couldn't then I have to let Jasper and Emmett take over.

"There is that person out there for you. I can guaruntee you that." I coaxed. "There's someone out there who would've been yours if my kind didn't exist. He's still out there looking for you. I want you to try to forget me and find him."

"No!" she yelled. "I DON'T WANT ANYONE BUT YOU!"

Her tears were now coming in uncontrollable quantities. I pulled her close to me as she broke down.

"I know, love, I know." I said my voice cracking as I gently rubbed her back. "Everything will be alright I promise."

"No, it won't." she cried.

This wasn't working. I needed Emmett to pry her away from me. It was the only way she would go. If someone forced her. I hated having to make my brother the bad guy. I hope he'd understand and she wouldn't be too angry with him for it.

"Eventually it will." I said then pulled away slightly. "Emmett, will you come take her please?"

"No!" she yelled and wrapped her arms tighter around me.

Emmette wrapped his arms around her and tried to pull. She clung to me even tighter. I was surprised at her strength. I had to reach up and pry her arms from my neck before Emmett could get a good grip on her.

"I love you, my angel." I stated as Emmett pulled her away. "I'll never forget you."

"No, Edward, please!" she yelled struggling against Emmett. "I love you! Don't do this!"

"Jasper, a little help please?" Emmett said after a minute of her struggling.

Jasper sent her waves of calm that she tried to fight. She wasn't strong enough to throw them off. Part of me thought that she wanted to give into them. Which was probably why she gave into quicker than she ever had before. As she stopped struggling and got drowsy, I turned to Carlisle,

"Carlisle, please check her out the minute you guys get out of here?" I requested.

"Of course." he replied.

Respecting my want to not have another long goodbye, the family turned to leave. I turned my back on them and tuned out there thoughts as they walked out. Before they made it to the tunnel, I stole on last glance at my sleeping angel.

**A/N: What did you think? Remember my flying monkeys and click the box. I love to hear what everyone has to say. I love you all. Thanks for everything you do by simply reading and reviewing. **


	14. Aftermath

**A/N: Okay, so I intended for this part to be the last and for it to be longer. My muses, however, had other plans. I wasn't sure where I was going to go with the whole thing after Edward joined the guard. But my muses say the plot thickens so much that it deserves it's own story. So this is the last chapter of Miles From Where You. **

**EDWARD**

I sat in my new room thinking about everything that Aro had just told me. I was expected to do what he and his brothers said without question. I was also expected to be pleasant to the other members of the guard. I could live with that so long as Jane kept her mouth and mind closed. Of course, I'd take any punishment for a chance to go one on one with that bitch. I was also told that I could not interfere with the treatment of any of their human toys. That wouldn't be a problem unless, of course, I saw or heard what they were doing to those poor girls. I'd go to their defense if I ever got the opportunity. Humans didn't deserve to be toys. I didn't care what the circumstances were. Aro would find that out sooner or later. The sooner the better.

It didn't seem like things were going to be too bad here. We were free to do whatever we wanted when we weren't needed. However, I was not allowed to leave the castle without an escort. Aro didn't trust me to not try to escape just yet. Little did he know, I wouldn't try anything as long as Bella's safety was still in danger. I was also forbidden to contact Bella or my family while I was here.

I supposed that one was for the best. I wanted to make this as clean as possible for Bella. She needed to move on without me there. If I was able to call her or write, she'd use that as a crutch. I didn't want that to happen. As for the family, I know it would've been easier on all of them if I was just out of the picture completely. Esme didn't need the added heartache of getting letters and calls but knowing she'd probably never see me again. Besides, they had Alice to keep them updated on me.

I prayed that Bella was going to be able to move on with her life. She didn't need the horrors that I brought into her life to haunt her for the rest of her life. She needed someone who could love and take care of her better than I ever could. I hoped she'd be able to let herself find that person. I knew the others would help her the best they could. In the end, though, it was all up to her.

She was strong, though, if anyone could handle it she could. I mean, the first time I left her, it nearly killed her but she let herself find Jacob and with his help, she got through it. I hoped she would be able to find someone who could help her move on this time and make her happy. That was all I ever wanted for her.

As much as I hated myself for allowing this to happen, I knew it was for the best. I knew Bella would understand. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not in ten years. But one day she'd understand and thank me for it. I just prayed that it didn't destroy her before that happened.

**BELLA**

**  
**I woke up in a comfortable hotel bed. I was nice and warm under a stack of blankets. I noticed that someone had changed my clothes. I was now in a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt that was a few sizes too big. It took me a minute to realize why I was lying there. That's when the memory of mine and Edward's goodbye came back to me. My eyes snapped quickly open as panic set in. I had hoped the whole thing was simply a dream.

When I opened my eyes, I was face to face with my grim and depressed looking family. Esme and Carlisle were sitting on the other bed. From the look of things, Esme was dry sobbing into Carlisle's chest as he did his best to comfort her. Jasper and Alice were sitting on the armchair. Jasper was looking like he was in more pain than usual. I couldn't blame him. He not only had his sadness to deal with but everyone else's as well. Alice was in his lap. She had her eyes closed as if she was concentrating hard on remembering something. I was pretty sure that she was trying to see what would become of everything now that Edward was no longer with us. Rosalie and Emmett were in the loveseat. Rosalie had her head in Emmett's shoulder and her body was shaking slightly. Emmett had his arm around her. The melancholy look seemed so out of place on his face.

I felt a hand smooth the hair on my head and turned to see Roxanne stroking it. She looked just as sad as the rest of them. I choked back the tears as I thought of what we had all just lost. I didn't deserve to cry. If the Cullen's couldn't, why should I be able to? This whole thing was my fault anyway, wasn't it?

"Bella, don't." Jasper said almost angrily. "I can feel your guilt. This one is our fault not yours. We knew the potential consequences for bringing you into our world. And we didn't fight very hard to stop it."

"But Edward didn't have to do this for me." I stated. "His love for me is what made him do it."

"That doesn't matter." Jasper argued back. "All that matters is that you not blame yourself for this."

"But-But-But..." I couldn't find a way to make them believe that it was my fault.

"Look, Bella," Alice stated finally opening her eyes. "Edward is where he wants to be. He's in the best position to protect you. It's the only place he's ever wanted to be. You should know that by now."

"But how could he want to be there without me?" I asked.

My sadness was finally getting the better of my guilt and I wasn't able to stop the tears.

"Oh, honey," Roxanne exclaimed and wrapped her arms around me. "He wants nothing more than to be with you but if he can protect you better away from you then that's where he feels he needs to be."

I cried into her chest as she stroked my hair and whispered comforting things. I knew Edward did this to protect me, just like the first time he left. I just couldn't imagine having to live my life without him again. He had told me to move on but I couldn't do that, not this time. Last time, I was able to let myself love Jacob because I thought that Edward didn't love me anymore. Did he really expect me to go on with my life knowing that he still loved me? I simply couldn't do it. It would've been way too hard for me.

It took Roxanne and Jasper and good hour to calm me down. I had a feeling that Jasper was trying to let me get the worst of it out now. It was going to be a long flight back to Forks and it would look odd if I randomly burst into tears. I was grateful to both Roxanne and Jasper for their efforts.

"Bella, I would like to examine you just to make sure there isn't any permanant damage." Carlisle stated once I finally calmed enough to listen. "I would've done it while you were asleep but I didn't want to scare you if you woke in the middle of it. The others can go for a hunt if you don't want them to stay."

I nodded. I was glad for the offer of the others to leave but I was a little afraid of Carlisle examing me. I knew that Carlisle would never hurt me but I still didn't like the idea of a man touching me that way. At least not that soon, I tried not to show that I was scared. I didn't want to insult Carlisle not after everything the family just had to give up for me. Jasper, however, sensed it.

"It's okay that you're scared." Jasper stated. "After what you went through, I surprised you even willing to let Carlisle do it. Besides, I'm sure one of the girls would be okay with staying if it would make you more comfortable."

"I'll do it." Roxanne offered. "I'm not very thristy. I'll be able to make it through the flight, especially since the humans smell disgusting to me."

"Thank you so much Roxanne." I stated.

She simply nodded.

"I should be finished by the time you guys get back. Then we'll go home."

Everyone nodded then walked out the door one by one. Carlisle walked over to a corner of the room and grabbed his black bag.

"Okay, Bella" he said as he came back over to me. "I need you to take off your boxers and underwear."

I did as he said. It took a few minutes because I was still very sore and my fingers were shaking. Once I had them off, Carlisle had me sit on the edge of the bed with my legs bent and apart. Roxanne came to sit next to me and hold my hand.

**(A/N: I'm not sure how this kind of exam would go so I'm just going to skip to his being finished. I'm pretty sure he'd be able to tell her how bad the scarring was right away. If not just kind of let it flow because I don't speak medicine and doctor.)**

"It doesn't look too bad." Carlisle stated once I had my clothes back on. "There is alot of tearing. Some parts are worse than others. However, with some rest and very little stress on your vaginal area, it should clear up in roughly six to eight weeks. You will be sore for a couple days. When we get back to Forks, I will prescribe you something for the pain. Other than that, I don't see this causing any future complications."

I knew what he meant by that. I'd still be able to have children. Any other girl who has had an experience like mine would be more than thrilled to hear that. It, however, meant nothing to me. I had known from the beginning that I wouldn't be able to have children with Edward. That wasn't a big concern for me. Especially now that I'd probably never see Edward again. I looked down at my hands trying not to think about it.

"You know, he doesn't want you to sit around and be depressed about losing him." Carlisle said placing his hand on my shoulder. I looked up into his sad eyes. "That's not why he did this. He wants you to be safe and happy and he knew that this was the only way for that to happen."

"But how does he expect me to be happy without him?" I questioned trying to fight another onslaught of tears.

Carlisle smiled at me sadly.

"You have to try." he said. "It's the best thing you could do for him. Just try to move on and be happy. It may work and it may not. But you won't get anywhere unless you try."

"And what if it doesn't work?" I asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

The door opened then and the family walked in.

Everyone finished packing their things, in silence, and we headed to the airport. As we drove out of Volterra, I took one look back at the city and shed a few more tears for what I was leaving behind.

**A/N: I hope this came off okay. I know it seems like Carlisle doesn't care much about having to give Edward up but he's just trying to keep it under control for Bella. The entire family knows that what he did was hardest on Bella and they want to make things a little easier for her. I hope this one turned out okay. I'm a bit excited for part four and might have rushed this. Let me know what you think. Look for In The End. Part four of the Without You series in the next few days. I hope you all enjoy. **


	15. Without You Trailer

**A/N: I knwo you guys are probably getting sick of the author's notes all of the time, but I just wanted to let you know that the amazing, Lis123 has struck again. She made a trailer/video for the entire Without You Series. I thought that I'd leave a note on all of my stories. If you've read the series, you should watch the video to see how awesome she is and if you haven't she did a fantastic job of depicting the story and you should check out the video. Anyway, her Youtube channel is Lisalmf123 and the video is titled Without You Series. You should all check it out and leave her some love. **


	16. Rocks in the Box?

**A/N: So when I finished In the End, I thought that would be the end of the Without You Saga. However, after rereading In the End, I discovered there is still one end that can be tied up. I'm just not sure is a part 5 would be overdoing it. So I'm going to leave it up to you guys. Here is a small summary of my plans for part 5: **

**Title: Rocks in the Box**

**Summary: Five years after the disappearance of their good friend, Melanie, the Circle endures another loss**. **When a mysterious, yet familiar stranger shows up to Laura's funeral, it rocks the already tense emotions of the Circle. Who is Melissa Ann Cullen? And why does everyone feel an indescribable pull towards her? **

**I am putting a poll up on my profile and it will remain up there for a week. I want the fans of the Without You Saga to tell me if they think I should develop this new idea? Or just let sleeping dogs lie? **

**Let me know what you think. I will announce the winner next Friday. So go vote! **


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